Air India announces salary hike, annual performance bonus for pilots

Air India (A-I) on Thursday raised the fixed monthly salaries of all pilots, except junior first officers, by up to Rs 15,000 per month.

The airline has also introduced an annual performance bonus of up to Rs 1.8 lakh for pilots, based on their performance, and the company's overall performance.
 

The announcement comes a month after two unions — the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), representing a significant section of narrowbody pilots, and the Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG), comprising a major section of widebody pilots — likened pilots' working conditions to "bonded labourers."
 

In an April letter to the Tata group Chairman N Chandrasekaran, the unions stated: "Issues of 70 hours fixed remuneration, approval of leaves, adequate rest periods, unstable rosters, stretching pilots to maximum flight duty, botched roster practices, and an unsupportive work environment are consistently echoed by pilots across different Tata group airlines."
 

The new compensation structure, effective April 1, will see first officers and captains receive a monthly salary hike of Rs 5,000, while commanders' pay will be raised by Rs 11,000, with senior commanders seeing their pay jump by Rs 15,000.
 

Additionally, an annual performance bonus has been introduced. Junior first officers with a "Rating 3 (meets expectations)" will receive Rs 42,000; first officers or captains with the same rating will get Rs 60,000; while commanders and senior commanders will be eligible for bonuses of Rs 1.32 lakh and Rs 1.8 lakh, respectively, if they achieve Rating 3.