Coronavirus impact: Many SpiceJet pilots will not get April, May salaries

Budget carrier SpiceJet on Wednesday said that its pilots will not be getting salaries for April and May. However, the pilots who have been operating cargo flights will get paid for 'block hours flown', SpiceJet also said. The block hours refer to the duration a pilot operates the flight. "We will not be getting any salary for April and May 2020. Those of us who have been flying Cargo, will get paid for the block hours flown," SpiceJet's flight operations chief Gurcharan Arora told pilots via an email.

"Over the coming weeks, we intend to increase the number of aircraft flying (Cargo + Cargo on Seat) to more than 50% and the number of Pilots flying to 100%," Gurcharan Arora also said. SpiceJet's rostering team will ensure that all the pilots get to fly the aircraft, he added. "Flying will be limited but it will ensure that all our training requirements are current and skills stay intact," Gurcharan Arora said. The management is working to see if all jobs are intact, he  also said. There are 116 passenger planes and five freight aircraft in SpiceJet's fleet.

"As of today, 16 per cent of our aircraft and 20 per cent of our pilots are flying," Arora added. "We are doing this by flying our five cargo aircraft and also flying more 'cargo on seat' on our passenger aircraft," he said.

Since March 24, most of the airline's fleet is not operational. India announced a nationwide lockdown from March 25 for 21 days but later extended it to May 3. Meanwhile, the airlines had taken bookings for flights from April 15 assuming that the lockdown would be lifted and air transport would be allowed. However, following the government order to continue with the travel restrictions during lockdown, airlines had to refund for cancelled flights. Shares of SpiceJet were trading at Rs 43, down 0.050, or 0.12 per cent on NSE at the time of reporting.

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