The National Aviators Guild (NAG) the outfit representing pilots of Jet Airways, is planning a ‘black band’ protest from March 1.
According to a directive issued to its members, the NAG has asked them to send their March roster to their respective team leaders by February 27. The pilots’ body in a statement also said that the recent scenario has ‘forced’ (them) to take some simple measures to alleviate the huge levels of stress. Jet Airways has some 1800 pilots of which about 1600 pilots are associated with NAG. As a part of the protest, pilots associated with NAG will not accept extra flight duties beyond their roster.
Jet Airways has informed the NAG that the 4th tranche of 25 per cent of November salary along with 12.5 per cent of December salary amounting to 37.5 per cent of the salary in total will be processed on February 26. “The management was unable to give any further pay-out commitment,” the NAG added. This implied that about 87.5 per cent of December salary, full salary of January and February after the pay-out on February 26 is pending.
“We had a teleconference with the CEO and the promoter. He was not able to give clarity on the entire pay-out structure, primarily because he too does not have any clarity on the same. For how long can we request the pilots to support the management, they too have families to look after”, it added
Jet Airways has been delaying salaries for the past couple of months. Besides, the airline has a couple of aircraft grounded for non-payment. “It is in public domain that Jet Airways is going through turbulent times. While all employees have been getting their salaries on time, pilots and AMEs (engineers) have been doled out part payments once in a while and are now running several months behind on their salaries,” the NAG statement added.
“Despite this we, the pilots, have stood steadfast by the company and have maintained our flight schedules through the last few months in the hope that our support would see the brand we all helped build once again achieve the prominence it enjoyed not so long ago,” it added.
“We have time and again attempted to convey to the company the degree of stress being faced by us. The mounting financial burden and the uncertainty regarding our careers are both contributory factors to the difficult conditions in which we have been performing our jobs” said the NAG directive.
With media reports suggesting that the pilots were looking to warn the management of non-cooperation, Jet Airways in a filing to the BSE on Monday said, "we wish to state that the Company is in dialogue with its key stakeholders, to enlist their full support and cooperation. In doing so, the Company is also apprising them of the challenges faced by the Company and is working out a mutually acceptable arrangement to ensure that the Company becomes current on its salary overdues."
At a time when the pilots should unite against the company, a pilot who is not a NAG member said, “If the NAG pilots are not willing to take up extra duties, this gives us an opportunity to do more.”
Given the situation the company is facing at the moment, the debt-laden airline might struggle to get pilots to do extra duties even if a couple of them agree to take up those extra duties, flight cancellations are on the cards for Jet Airways.