Jet Airways extends 'leave without pay' for cabin crew

After a series of delays in disbursing the salaries of its employees, Jet Airways has now said its flight attendants can avail 'leave without pay' for as many as 50 days. The airline has called it an "employee-friendly" step but analysts say it indicates deeper troubles in the beleaguered Jet Airways. The company started the voluntary 'leave without pay' scheme for the cabin crew of the Boeing 737 planes in June. But now the so-called "employee-friendly initiative" has been extended to the crew members of the two other wide-body planes -- Airbus A330s and Boeing 777s, a Business Standard report said.

"This particular time the window for this category leaves taken is up to 50 days. The objective of the initiative is to achieve a better equilibrium between work/life balance and operational commitments," the newspaper quoted Jet Airways as saying. This first-come-first-serve voluntary scheme is applicable for the crew members based in Delhi and Mumbai only. Those who seek to avail the option will need to apply between November 1 and December 20. The airline has said that in-flight supervisors are not eligible to avail this facility.

The cabin crew members form a significant chunk of employees working in the airline industry. In Jet Airways alone, there are over 4,000 cabin crews, much above its requirement. They get paid anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1,20,000, including various components and allowances. Many crew members need to be kept on standby, for which they are paid allowance, transport, etc, and that's where Jet Airways plans to save by allowing them to take leave without any salary.

The Naresh Goyal-controlled carrier had a gross debt of Rs 8,620 crore as on June this year and net losses of Rs 724.94 crore in 2017/18. The airline has a negative net worth of over Rs 7,000 crore. The airline has been reportedly defaulting on employees' salaries for some time - making partial payments in some cases or not paying at all. If it continues to face the cash crunch, the airline could go the Mallya-led Kingfisher Airlines way, say experts.

It recently sought more time to pay the salaries of its employees for September. Though no confirmed deadline has been given, the airline assured its employees that it is "committed" towards finding a solution. The airline paid the balance amount (50 per cent) of the salaries for August to its pilots, engineers and senior management last week only.

Edited by Manoj Sharma