AirAsia India pilots facing salary cuts

AirAsia India (I5, Chennai) will cut pilots’ salaries by 40% for May and June as the carrier deals with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, and expects it will take two years to recover from it. An undisclosed airline source told the PTI news agency that employees paid less than INR50,000 rupees (USD664) would not be unaffected. The LCC’s senior management took a pay cut of 20% in April, while the wages of executives falling in other categories were reduced by between 7 and 17%. AirAsia India has approximately 2,500 employees, of which around 600 are pilots. Pilots were being paid for a fixed 70 hours per month irrespective of flying or no flying, which has now been reduced to 20 hours to reduce costs, the source told PTI, generating a pay cut of 40% of the total average salary of a pilot. It added that the carrier has deferred the introduction of any new aircraft as it is unlikely to expand its network in the short to medium term in light of reduced demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. The carrier expects the sector could take two years to fully recover. AirAsia India opened bookings to 21 destinations across its network at the end of May. The airline has operated more than 40 flights per day since May 25, and said it continues to witness demand mostly for essential travel, the Indo-Asian News Service reported. AirAsia India chief executive officer Sunil Bhaskaran told a webinar the carrier was operating at 20% capacity with a 50% load factor. AirAsia India is 51% owned by Tata Sons, with the remaining 49% held by the AirAsia Group. The AirAsia Group, meanwhile, may cut its staff by a third due to the coronavirus, and it will also cut staff salaries by up to 75%, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on June 5. The AirAsia Group operates through Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, India, and the Philippines and employs some 20,000 people.