SpiceJet staff go on strike at Delhi airport over salary issues

New Delhi: A section of staff of no-frills airline SpiceJet Limited went on a strike at the Delhi airport on Friday over alleged non-payment of salaries.

About 150 staff of the airline participated in the protest, which the airline said didn't impact its operations and had been resolved by noon.

"The issue with a section of SpiceJet employees at the Delhi airport has been resolved and the employees have returned back to work. SpiceJet’s flight operations remain normal," said a SpiceJet spokesperson.

The protests by employees at SpiceJet comes days after a former pilot with the airline sent an open letter to the prime minister and civil aviation authorities claiming that a massive pay cut for SpiceJet pilots over the past 18 months has put tremendous stress on them which in turn has made the airline a 'flying hazard'.

SpiceJet, however, denied the allegation of flight safety hazard due to financial stress, terming it false and baseless.

The Gurgaon-based airline has been severely impacted by the covid-19 pandemic even though air passenger traffic is slowly improving after the second wave.

SpiceJet had in August reported its sixth consecutive quarterly loss at ₹731.12 crore during the three months ended 30 June.

Walker Chandiok & Co LLP, the auditors of SpiceJet, have once again raised doubts about the airline’s ability to continue as a going concern as mounting losses have led to complete erosion of net worth, with current liabilities exceeding current assets by ₹6,044.91 crore as of 30 June 2021.