Jet Airways staff hopeless, sentiment hits lowest

Staff sentiment at crisis-hit Jet Airways has hit the lowest as the endgame nears for the airline. With no interim funds coming from the lenders and suspension of all its operations imminent, they have lost all hopes and are bracing for tough times ahead. "We are going to approach the Labour Commissioner for recovering our dues. We can no longer hold on any further," said an engineer who has taken a loan against his LIC policy to meet his daily expenses. Airline sources told IANS that a few hundred pilots would move from Jet Airways in the next few days as they no longer believe airline would be saved.

"Jet Airways shares have suddenly dropped so much. It signals there is nothing for the airline now and it will suspend all its operations," the engineer said. Jet Airways shares dropped 12.47 per cent to Rs 229.05 on the BSE on Tuesday afternoon. While technical personnel are likely to get jobs as most private carriers including IndiGo and GoAir hiring, the non-technical staff are heading for tough time. Even, pilots and engineers are taking heavy pay-cuts to get a job.

The salary cut ranges from 30 to 50 per cent. "We are unlikely to get our dues from the airline. The future remains bleak. The only ray of hope is that the traffic growth continues which means job opportunities would come," an executive said.

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Captain Asim Valiani, Vice President, National Aviator`s Guild (NAG), said that employees of all rank and file were facing financial hardship. "We are not sure how to tide over this financial stress. Children`s education, EMIs and even mediclaims are at stake. Not to mention losing four months` pay, bonus and gratuity," Valiani said. The Jet employees know that the industry does not have the capacity to absorb all of them. "Many pilots and (executives in) other ranks will be jobless. The future of 20,000 employees is in jeopardy," the Captain noted.