Jet pilots, engineers joining SpiceJet at 30-50 percent pay cut

New Delhi Lowcost carrier and top rival SpiceJet appears to be making the most of the crisis at Jet Airways Spicejet is now hiring engineers and pilots at much lower pay than their current salaries at the financialytroubled Jet Industry sources told IANS that pilots from Jet Airways are being asked to take salary cuts of 2530 per cent while engineers have been advised to settle at 50 per cent of their current pay packageNot long ago many airlines including SpiceJet were luring the same pilots and engineers with joining bonuses and better perksThe prospect of closure is certainly one of the reasons for professionals agreeing to take salary cuts But average salaries at Jet Airways have also been higher than the industry level a top aviation source saidA senior aircraft maintenance engineer who has applied to SpiceJet and Air India Express for a job said that he has got an offer in the range of Rs 150000 to 200000 a month while his current cost to company CTC at Jet Airways is nearly Rs 400000 a monthThe offer is much lower It will certainly be a forced choice We are hoping that some investor would take over Jet and our salaries will remain protected he saidA SpiceJet executive said that the budget carrier was offering salaries based on their own structure and not the highly inflated one paid by Jet AirwaysA senior commander with Jet Airways said that pilots with 45 years of experience are going to other airlines as they are feeling the pinch of salary delaysThey have loans and other financial commitments so they are looking for places where there is certainty of jobs and timely salary payment Not many senior level pilots have so far left Jet Airways They arevreluctant to go to either SpiceJet IndiGo or Air India Express as they feel their seniority and salary will be impacted They do not want to sign 35 year bonds he saidThe flying veteran noted that many copilots who do not have much experience generally get about Rs 29 lakh salary month at Jet Airways and they are willing to join other airlines for even less than Rs 2 lakh a monthApart from Jet Airways among airlines plying domestic routes only Air India Express and SpiceJet operate Boeing fleets Those operating Airbus aircraft fear huge conversion costs for both pilots and engineers and are thus reluctant to hire the technical personnel from JetWe will have to train them for flying and maintenance of Airbus aircraft In case of pilots it will need six months of training while for engineers the reskilling would take 34 months This means the salary for entire training period will be a huge cost for us said an executive of a private airline operating Airbus planesBut aviation experts feel that the current situation is temporary and it will be normalise once Jet gets back on its feetThis is an unusual situation because Jet Airways remains almost grounded Normally supply and demand have been in favour of pilots and engineers Now it depends on how quickly Jet restarts again If that happens things will stabilise I wont be surprised if many pilots and engineers go back to Jet said Rajan Mehra a veteran aviation professional and Chief Executive Officer Club One AirSaddled with mounting debt and losses Jet Airways is fighting for its survival The airline is in gradual descent and staring at closure with nearly 90 per cent of its fleet on the groundCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates