Unlike other carriers, no employee of ours will be laid off: Air India

Air India on Thursday said it will not layoff any of its employees even as it navigates the Covid-19 outbreak, which has hit the civil aviation sector hard.

The national air carrier said a decision to this effect was taken by the Air India Board and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

“Recent decisions of Air India Board regarding rationalisation of staff cost were reviewed in a meeting at the Civil Aviation Ministry this (Thursday) evening. The meeting reiterated that unlike other carriers which have laid off large number of their employees, no employee of Air India will be laid off," Air India said on its Twitter handle.

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The national airline also said that basic pay, dearness allowance (DA) and house rent allowance (HRA) will not be reduced for any category of employees.

However, some “rationalisation of allowances” had to be implemented, the airline said, adding that the same will be reviewed once the financial position improves.

“Flying crew will be paid as per the actual number of hours flown. As domestic and international operations expand to reach pre-Covid levels and the financial position of Air India improves, the rationalisation of allowances will be reviewed,” the airline said.

On July 16, Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director Rajiv Bansal said he was working to steadily increase revenues and contain costs by reducing debt, aircraft lease rentals, as well as staffing and operating expenses.