Akasa Air takes legal action against 43 pilots for joining other airlines without serving a notice period: Report

Akasa Airline has decided to take legal action against 43 pilots who joined other airline/s without serving the notice period. The 13-month-old airline has reportedly sought about ₹22 crore as compensation  from the 43 pilots for the loss of revenue and damaging reputation of the airline.

According to a report by the Times of India, the mass exodus of pilots has forced the airline to cancel its several operations since August 2023.

"We have sought legal remedy only against a small set of pilots who abandoned their duties and left without serving their mandatory contractual notice period," an Akasa Air spokesperson said.

The airline said the act was not only in violation of their contract but also the country's civil aviation regulations.

"Not only is this illegal in law but also an unethical and selfish act that disrupted flights in August forcing last-minute cancellations that stranded thousands of customers causing significant inconvenience to the travelling public," it said.

Akasa Air, which currently has a fleet of 20 planes, started operations in August 2022.

This year in June, the Mumbai-headquartered airline increased the salaries of pilots by up to 40%. As per a June report, Akasa Air announced that from July 2023, senior first officers will now start with a monthly salary of ₹3.40 lakh, while senior captains will earn ₹6.25 lakh. Earlier it was ₹2.75 lakh and ₹5.75 lakh, respectively.

Also read: Akasa Air increases pilots salary by 40%: Report

If the experience and flight hours are more, the pay scale may be even higher, and the captain may earn up to ₹7.75 lakh per month, a 6% increase from the current ₹7.28 lakh, Akasa said in June this year.

Not only this, for every additional hour, apart from the fixed 40 hours of flying, captains will be paid ₹7,500 and first officers ₹3,045.

Akasa in August added the 20th aircraft to its fleet making the airline eligible to start international operations.

Indian regulations require airlines to have at least 20 aircraft in their fleet to become eligible for international operations.

As of August 2023, Akasa operated more than 900 weekly flights across 16 cities in the country.