Allowances cut to be reviewed after ops expand: Air India

The national carrier's statement comes after a review meeting was held on Thursday at the Ministry of Civil Aviation on these measures.

"Flying crew will be paid as per the actual number of hours flown. As domestic and international operations expand to reach pre-Covid levels and the financial position of Air India improves, the rationalisation of allowances will be reviewed," Air India said in a tweet.

"Unlike other carriers which have laid off large number of their employees, no employee of AirIndia will be laid off," it asserted.

The airline said that there has been no reduction in the 'Basic pay, DA and HRA' of any category of employees, but rationalisation of allowances had to be implemented on account of the difficult financial condition of the airline that were exacerbated by Covid-19.

The statement comes at a time when employees, including pilots, have protested  against the cost-cutting measures with many describing the measures as "backdoor and illegal layoffs".

Air India has instituted a massive cut in employee allowances even as protests from all sections of the employees continued.

As per an office order, this has been done as per the directions of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and following approval from the Board of Directors of Air lndia Ltd. The rationalisation of allowances will be effective from April 1 and shall remain in force till further review by the Air lndia Board.

Consequently, the rate of allowances other than DPE allowances will stand reduced by 40 per cent

These include flying allowance, executive flying allowance, special pay, wide body allowance, domestic layover allowance, quick return allowance, high altitude allowance, check allowance, instructor allowance, examiner allowance and additional landing allowance.

Last week, the airline cited the challenging financial situation for implementing the LWP scheme.

As per the airline, the LWP scheme provides the opportunity to employees to take up alternative employment with the approval of the management during the period of the said leave.

"The only addition in this scheme as compared to the earlier LWP scheme is that the management can pass an order requiring the employees to go on leave for a period of six months or two years (extendable up to 5 years) compulsorily, taking into consideration suitability, efficiency, competence, quality of performance, health, non-availability of employee and redundancy," the airline had said in a statement.

Air India said that this provision has been introduced for use "very sparingly", with a view to ensure that the overall efficiency of the organisation improves.