Asia Bizz: The hard times for the Indian aviation department do not seem to subside. After Vijay Mallya’s crisis with Kingfisher Airlines, the problems are slowly spreading to other Indian airlines such as the Jet Airways and the state owned Air India.
On March 8, 2012, Naresh Goyal, the chairman of JetAirways, met a group of pilots who were wearing black arm bands to protest against the delayed salaries. More than 1,100 pilots have started wearing black arm bands to protest against the delayed salaries, which some pilots say that could lead to a full-fledged strike.
On the other hand, the spokesperson of Jet Airways said that there wasn’t any delay in the payment of the salaries. The spokesperson clarified that as a socially conscious corporate, the airline is aware of all the obligations.
The spokesperson further added that the airline has always made salary disbursals as per a predetermined schedule of dates which are internally communicated to the staff every month. It was also revealed that all the categories of employees have been paid their salaries due in full for January 2012. It was also informed that 75 percent of the employees are paid their salaries by the first week of the month and the cockpit crew is paid by the 15th of the month.
Many employees of the 3 troubled airlines told the media that they have not received their salaries for over 3 months now.