Mumbai: Budget carrier IndiGo has assured its employees that it will not make any deduction in their salaries and leaves due to the suspension of domestic flights till April 15 in the wake of coronavirus lockdown.
The assurance came a day after the Narendra Modi government issued an advisory to both private and public companies to not lay off employees or cut their salaries, in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
In an e-mail to his employees, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said the company has ‘reasonable’ level of advanced bookings for April and it is ‘anxious’’ to fly again albeit with a reduced capacity.
“For those who don’t have to be working during this temporary suspension of operations, we will make no deduction of salaries or leaves,” Dutta said in the e-mail. However, it must be stated here that he was referring to the suspension of flights till March 31. Now with the lockdown extended to April 15, it remains to be seen what IndiGo does.
It may be mentioned here that global aviation consultancy CAPA said Monday domestic air services are likely to remain suspended beyond March 31 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
Later in a statement, Dutt also said that the airline would not be charging any fee for cancelling tickets that are up to April 30, and it would store the ticket price as credit on that PNR, which can be used for alternative bookings up to September 30.
Stating that the last few days have been very challenging for the airline, Dutt said ‘clearly for the next few weeks, our revenues will be well below our costs and we will have to make our efforts to penny-pinch and preserve cash’. He also said that as employees ‘let us also be acutely cognizant of the fact that during this temporary suspension of operations, we will be spending our cash reserves to continue to pay salaries and benefits’.
PTI