Jet Airways sends 10% staff on LWP, cuts salaries of another 23%

CEO Sanjiv Kapoor said on Twitter on Friday that "two-thirds of staff are not impacted at all" by the cost-cutting measures

The Jalan-Kalrock consortium (JKC) has sent 10 per cent of the employees of Jet Airways on leave without pay (LWP) and reduced the salaries of another 23 per cent to cut cost as it waits for the airline’s handover under the ongoing process in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

Sources said a section of mid- and senior-level employees had been asked to work for a “reduced number of hours” at salaries reduced by up to 50 per cent. Employees in lower grades, cabin crew members, and pilots have not been affected, they said.

The airline, which wanted to resume flights by October, has about 250 employees on its rolls.

It went bankrupt in April 2019 under the old ownership. A resolution plan put forward by JKC was approved by the committee of creditors and the NCLT in October 2020 and June 2021, respectively.

However, ownership has not been transferred to JKC to date because the matter of clearing the previous employees’ provident fund and gratuity dues is under litigation.

JKC wants the State Bank of India-led consortium of lenders to pay them and has moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on this.

Jet Airways Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Kapoor said on Twitter on Friday “no staff has been let go”.

“However with the ownership transfer timeline slipping due to factors outside our control, some temporary hard decisions had to be taken,” he added.

The team working to revive Jet Airways was not responsible for the airline running out of cash and suspending operations in 2019, he noted.

“They are trying to revive the airline using fresh capital, to give consumers more choices, to create more jobs and bring back old jobs. They deserve our full appreciation,” he mentioned.

In its statement, JKC said it had not breached any terms of the approved resolution plan and it remained committed to restart Jet Airways.

After the NCLT’s approval in June 2021, all conditions outlined in the resolution plan were satisfied by May 20 this year and the necessary filings in this regard were made before the NCLT on May 21, it mentioned.

According to the resolution plan, the consortium has to infuse Rs 1,375 crore into the airline.