Mass sick leaves make IndiGo 'rationalize' salaries of aircraft technicians

NEW DELHI: An IndiGo internal communication stated that the airline is planning to "rationalize" the salaries of its aircraft maintenance technicians and remove "anomalies cause by the pandemic".

Protesting their salaries, a large number of their aircraft maintenance technicians in Hyderabad and Delhi went on sick leave on Saturday and Sunday, sources said.

Prior to this, more than half of IndiGo's domestic flights reported delays as several of their employees took sick leaves on July 2 to go for an Air India recruitment drive, sources reported.

The airline had cut down the salary of a significant number of its employees during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

An email was sent to the aircraft maintenance technicians Monday by S C Gupta, IndiGo's Senior Vice President (Engineering) in which he stated that the aviation industry as a whole, including IndiGo, has been facing unprecedented challenges over the last 30 months because of the global pandemic.

In the email that has been accessed by PTI, Gupta said that the technicians' commitment to the airline has remained steadfastly consistent through this rather difficult period.

"I am apprised of a few of your concerns about salary increases and I understand that during the last two years we have not been able to revise your compensation in accordance with historical levels," he noted.

"I have reviewed this with our Leadership and our HR Group and I am pleased to share that we have agreement on rationalizing the anomalies caused by the pandemic. The letters reflecting this rationalization will be issued to you over the next two weeks and will be with effect from August 1, 2022," he mentioned.

He added that he was confident that the technicians would remain with the airline and work with the same zeal and accountability as before.

There has been a recruitment drive in the aviation industry including the new airline Akasa Air, the revamped Jet Airways and Tata group-owned Air India who are looking to hire. This has led the employees within the industry to look for better prospects.

With inputs from PTI