Six Air India pilots quit, 50 more in queue

Frustrated by the practice of doling out untimely salaries by Air India (AI), six senior commanders and co-pilots of the national carrier have resigned. What may be alarming for the airline is that 50 more resignations are in the offing. However, the authorities do not seem to be in a mood to retain them.  

After fighting with the airline for pay parity, these pilots of erstwhile Indian — which merged with the AI — have decided to call it quits one by one. “In the past few months our salaries have not been regular and we are tired of waiting and even fighting for it every month,” said a senior commander. “If this situation continues, 50 more pilots are likely to resign.”
Out of the 850 pilots from the erstwhile Indian, 160 are executive pilots. 

Since the past one year, AI has been struggling to pay salaries to its 30,000 employees, including all 1,600 pilots. “For the past two months, we have got only our basic salary which is just 30% of our pay packet. The rest is in the form of performance linked incentives which is based on the number of flying hours we log in,” said a pilot.  

In this year’s budget the airline got Rs1,200 crore cash infusion from the Centre. Yet, the management is dilly dallying in paying our money. It seems like a deliberate plot to instigate mass exodus of employees,” said another disgruntled pilot.
When contacted, Kamaljeet Rattan, spokesperson for AI, said, “If they leave, we will recruit more pilots from the open market.”