Reportedly air india on thursday temporarily suspended the contracts of around 200 pilots, who were re-employed after retirement, as all domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended in the country till april 14 to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official said.
"Since almost all the planes have been grounded and the carrier's revenues have taken a significant fall during the last few weeks, the airline has decided to temporarily suspend the contract of around 200 pilots who were re-employed after their retirement," said the official. The national carrier has already cut the allowances of all employees, except cabin crew, by 10 per cent for the next three months in order to save money amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile british Airways in talks with its union about a plan to suspend around 32,000 staff in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The british flag carrier has massively reduced flights and warned it will need to cut jobs to survive the emergency as the battered aviation sector frantically seeks to take out costs. Owned by IAG, BA has already suspended flights from Britain’s second busiest airport, Gatwick, and its parent company has said flying capacity would be down 75 per cent in april and May. Under the BA plan around 80 per cent of staff including cabin crew, ground staff, engineers and those in head office will have their jobs suspended. The BBC, which first reported the news, said no staff would be made redundant.
