Kingfisher cuts salaries of its pilots by Rs80,000

Mumbai: Moving quietly, private air-carrier Kingfisher Airlines has effected a Rs80,000 cut in the salaries of its pilots.

“Earlier, we were being paid a salary of Rs430,000 per month. Now it has been cut to Rs350,000, all in the name of integration (with the erstwhile Deccan),” a Kingfisher pilot said.

The salary package is mainly based on the flying hours of about 70 hours, he said, adding that “the whole package has been revised downwards in the name of bringing parity with the erstwhile Deccan pilots”.

Kingfisher’s management, while slashing the salaries, has taken the defence that it was only implementing the “Deccan-Kingfisher package structure in Kingfisher post-merger”, the pilot said.

The pay cut, effective for sometime now, is understood to have given rise to resentment and heartburn in Kingfisher’s pilot community.

A spokesperson of the Vijay Mallya-led airline confirmed the pay cuts but said it was the result of a move “towards a productivity-linked compensation structure, which is the international norm”.