IndiGo has announced salary cuts across various levels of its organisation as demand for flight tickets has fallen sharply following the Coronavirus outbreak. This has impacted revenues of the airline severely.

In a mail written to employees, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta has said that he will take a pay cut of 25 percent and senior vice-presidents and above will take a pay cut of 20 percent. All the changes in salaries will come into effect from April 1, 2020.

"With a great deal of reluctance and a deep sense of regret we are therefore instituting pay cuts for all employees excluding bands A & B, starting 1st April 2020,” Dutta wrote in the mail.

“I am personally taking a 25 percent pay cut, SVPs and above are taking 20 percent, VPs and cockpit crew are taking a 15 percent pay cut, AVPs, Bands D along with cabin crew will take 10 percent and Band Cs, 5 percent," the mail said.

The mail said there will be no salary cuts for band A and B.

IndiGo is the largest airline in the country with a market share of nearly 50 percent.

The aviation industry in general has been hit hard by the steep fall in both pleasure and work travel in the wake of the Coronavirus

Here is the full letter:

Dear fellow employee,

These are very difficult times indeed. I cannot think of another crisis that has engulfed the entire world with its speed and penetration into the lives of every single human being on this planet. To that extent, all the distinctions of geography, income, race and religion have come crumbling down and we stand exposed and unified in this fight between one species and another. We need to approach this crisis responsibly and thoughtfully, as it attacks both our health and our economic well-being.

I am afraid that the impact of the coronavirus on the aviation industry has been particularly severe. Governments across the globe have issued travel advisories which have resulted in a virtual shutdown of all our international flights. Domestic bookings too are down around 20 percent and it is not clear that the situation will not get worse before it gets better.

With the precipitous drop in revenues, the very survival of the airline industry is now at stake. We have to pay careful attention to our cash flow so that we do not run out of cash. Unfortunately, this means that we have to reduce our costs in line with the drop in revenues. With a great deal of reluctance and a deep sense of regret, we are therefore instituting pay cuts for all employees excluding Bands A & B, starting 1st April 2020. I am personally taking a 25 percent pay cut, SVPs & above are taking 20 percent, VPs & cockpit crew are taking a 15 percent pay cut, AVPs, Bands D along with cabin crew will take 10 percent and Band Cs 5 percent. We know how hard it is for families to take a cut in take-home pay. But unfortunately, it is impossible for our company to fly through this economic storm without all of us making some sacrifices.

We wish to emerge out of this crisis stronger, wiser and more resolute as an institution than when we entered into this crisis in February. To that extent, we are drawing up plans on how to respond to the travel needs of our customers, to interact with our suppliers in terms of our temporary cut back in capacity and to be extremely responsible in terms of safeguarding the health needs of our community.

Our top priority is to focus on the health, safety and well-being of our customers and employees. We are asking our cabin crew to wear masks and gloves on all international flights and where appropriate, on domestic flights. We have simultaneously commenced a higher degree of intensive cleaning of all our aircraft as well as all our offices and facilities. We are also minimizing layovers of our crew in international destinations in line with permissible flight time duty rules.

Please look after yourselves, your families, your fellow workers and our customers. We are disciplined as an organization to think of safety as paramount to every action big and small that we take. It should be an easy transition for us to think of health as a natural extension of safety.

Let us come out of this crisis, healthy, united, and proud of our selves.

Best regards

Rono Dutta

First Published:Mar 19, 2020 2:21 PM IST