Jet Airways pilots warn of agitation over salary arrears

Threat comes a day ahead of airlines' AGM and announcement of first quarter earnings on August 11

Jet Airways pilots on Sunday warned the management of an agitation if the airline fails to offer a concrete plan for payment of arrears amounting to Rs 50 crore by August 20, sources said. The pilots will decide on their future course of action following a meeting with the management that day.

When contacted, Jet Airways, however, denied having received any such ultimatum from the pilots. "Jet Airways’ follows a process of open communication with all its stakeholders and in line with the same, the airline is in continual dialogue with all levels of employees,  including the operating crew. It believes in this collaborative effort and works towards resolving all issues through  this mechanism," an airline spokesperson said.

The pilots’ threat comes a day ahead of the airlines' annual general meeting (AGM) and the announcement of first quarter earnings on Monday. The AGM will be attended by Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and Etihad’s president and CEO James Hogan.

Jet Airways has about 1,100 pilots who operate both wide-body and narrow-body planes. As many as 600 are commanders and the rest are first officers.

“Salary revision was made in 2010 but not implemented till 2013. We have not received increment for three years. We have held several discussions with the management on the issue. The last meeting was in May and we were promised solution in two months. We will be meeting the management again on August 20. If the meeting fails, we will call a meeting of pilots to decide on the future course of action,” said D Balaraman, president of The National Aviators’ Guild, which represents Jet Airways pilots.

“On the one hand, we have not received our dues; on the other, the airline is creating management posts for pilots and hiring expatriates, which increases the salary bill. We felt that the deal with Etihad Airways would benefit employees, but so far that has not happened,” he added.