Mumbai / Hyderabad: Battling a clawing downturn enveloping the aviation industry, Jet Airways on Wednesday announced laying off 1,900 jobs across all operations that will result in savings of $1 million a month.

“It is an unfortunate decision, which all of us in the company regret but it is an attempt to save the company and the jobs of the remaining employees,” Jet Airways executive director B Saroj Dutta told reporters at the airlines headquarters in Mumbai.

“A total of 1,900 people are being served separation notice. 800 have already been served notice. In the next few days the others will also be served notice. It is an attempt to save the jobs of remaining 11,100 employees,” he said.

He said the decision to terminate the employees, which will result in savings of $12 million a year, had nothing to do with the alliance entered into with Kingfisher. “It (alliance) has nothing to do with the workforce of the companies. These are independent decisions.”

Kingfisher has laid-off nearly 300 jobs and may announce more cuts across the board in the coming days. The airline chief Vijay Mallya gave enough hints of it, saying the company would do whatever it takes to cut costs.

Dutta said all sections and activities of the company were being covered by this action, which the airline said was inevitable in view of the declining traffic volumes.

The sack order evoked protests from Raj Thackeray, who warned that no Jet flights would be allowed from Mumbai in case the airline did not reconsider the decision.

But, Dutta said: “They (politicians) are diligent and rational people and they know what the aviation industry is going through.”

He also denied any cartelisation, saying the alliance with Kingfisher was just rationalisation and cooperation.