Air India takes cost-cutting measures to tackle coronavirus slump, withdraws special allowances for pilots, crew

As airlines across the world face are fast running out of cash with reducing global and domestic travel, Air India on Friday announced cost-cutting measures by withdrawing special allowances for pilots and other facilities for its officials.

The new measures will be put in place starting April 1.

Air India has issued a statement saying, Keeping in view the financial position of the company in the wake of recent global developments, a need is felt to take steps to contain costs as far as possible. Airlines all over the world are taking steps in this regard, with a few having taken very aggressive action.

With this disclosure, Air India has announced the withdrawal of some special allowances it used to provide its crew with. Entertainment allowance for executive pilots has been withdrawn while layover allowance for all cabin crew members will be revised.

All cabin crew (permanent and contractual) will have revised layover allowance of $100 for 30 hours and thereafter $4 for every additional hour in excess of 30 hours, said the Air India statement.

The national carrier has also said that fuel reimbursement limits for all officers will stand reduced by 10% starting April 1 for an initial period of 6 months.

Budget carrier GoAir on Tuesday announced suspending international operations and offering leave without pay program for its staff on a rotational basis, amid “unprecedented” decline in air travel due to the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 75 percent of airlines globally have the cash to cover costs of less than three months, Brian Pearce, the chief economist at global airlines body IATA, said on Tuesday as global aviation traffic has drastically reduced in the past few weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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