Jet Airways Pilots Indicate Unpaid Salaries are a Major Problem

Cash-strapped Jet has been making delayed salary payments for the last four months and has also defaulted on loans.

Jet Airways may order at least 50 Boeing 737 Max planes this year. 

(Photo: Reuters)

Jet Airways pilots have not been paid in the last four months as the airlines is battling one of its worse financial crisis. The airline's pilots have come out in public to express their concerns. They have said that they will stop flying from 1 April if their salaries are not paid.

In a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu, senior commanders have said that the stress of unpaid salaries is unwarranted and can compromise safety.

‘’We are also normal human beings. The stress levels will keep creeping up, how much ever we try and keep them behind. We try our best but this stress of salary unpaid is unwarranted and needs to be eliminated immediately.”

Captain Akash Chopra, as quoted by NDTV

Captain Chopra heads the union representing pilots of Jet Airways, NDTV reported.

Captain Asim Valiani, another senior Jet Airways pilot, further told NDTV that all 1,100 members have agreed to stop flying from 1 April. Apart from that, there are reports of hundreds of Jet Airways pilots applying for jobs at different airlines. Two hundred and sixty pilots have applied for jobs at SpiceJet, PTI reported. On the other hand, there are reports of IndiGo trying to poach Jet pilots.

Valiani says if all of this happens, there will be about 1,500 pilots available in the market, and the market does not have that amount of vacancies. Hence, the problem is bigger than it seems.

Valiani also said that First Officers have told him that they had to pawn their mothers' ornaments for money, the crisis is that bad.

The cash-strapped full service airline has been making delayed salary payment for the last few months and has also defaulted on loan repayments.

The National Aviator's Guild (NAG) – a grouping of over 1,000 pilots of Jet Airways – had also written to Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar.

In the 6 March letter, the pilots raised concerns about persistent delay in salaries payment of member pilots.

"This situation is leading to extreme tension and frustration amongst our members, hardly an ideal situation for pilots in the cockpit... All pleas to the management in this regard have fallen on deaf ears," the letter said.

Jet Airways has been looking at various ways to raise funds amid acute liquidity crunch that has forced it to ground aircraft, cancel flights in large numbers, shutdown stations and delay salary payments to its pilots and engineers along with other senior staff.

On 8 March, Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal wrote to Etihad Airways Group CEO Tony Douglas seeking an urgent funding of Rs 750 crore. Goyal had also written to Jet employees, assuring an early resolution on 18 March.

Jet Airways, that controls 13.9 percent of India’s aviation market, has been sitting on a Rs 70,000 crore debt. The airlnies’ overseas partner Etihad has offered to sell its entire 24 percent stake in Jet.

Major lender State Bank of India, although confident of resolving the issue within March, has reportedly asked chairman Naresh Goyal to reduce his stake in the airline.

On Wednesday, 20 March, SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar had met with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, along with Aviation Secretary Pradip Singh Kharola and Nripendra Missra, Principle Secretary to the Prime Minsiter to discuss a resolution plan for the cash-strapped airlines.

With the government and the SBI, both looking at the crisis actively, it seems the airlines will be relieved in some way or the other.

(With inputs from NDTV and PTI)