Pilots to drag Mallya to court for salary cut

Agencies

Alleging breach of contract by the airline on assured flying hours, over 600 Kingfisher Airlines' pilots have decided to drag the loss-making carrier to courts for cutting their salaries.

On condition of anonymity a Kingfisher official said, "The airline is now following an international norm of productivity-linked compensation structures and, hence, there is a revision of salaries. However, even if a pilot flies for 55 hours, there would be a difference of only 4.5% in his gross salary and not 25-30% as claimed by the pilots."

Kingfisher pilots earn upwards of Rs 3 lakh a month, excluding perks, with the senior-most making over Rs 5 lakh. The airline has a fleet of more than 75 aircraft, with 570 flights daily connecting 74 cities. The salary cuts come at a time when the airline has scaled up its international operations.

The pilots had recently met senior company officials to register their protest against the salary cuts. A senior pilot flying wide-bodied aircraft said, "When we met the HR head, we were told there had been a pay revision as fallout of less flying hours." The pilots do not plan to strike work to press for their demands at this time.