IndiGo pilots to get pay raise
NEW DELHI, NOV. 27:
The
salaries of IndiGo pilots are set to increase from December 1 this year.
The move
comes as two new airlines — Tata-SIA and AirAsia India — get ready to start
operations and are looking for crew to operate their aircraft. IndiGo flies
Airbus A-320 aircraft which are similar to what AirAsia India will operate.
Tata-SIA
is yet to announce the kind of aircraft that it will be using.
IndiGo
pilots that Business Line spoke to said the average increase
is in the range of Rs 80,000 to Rs 100,000 a month. After the hike, on an average
a pilot with the airline will take home Rs 400,000 a month, while a first
officer will get about Rs 250,000, airline sources indicated.
MONTHLY WAGE BILL
With
IndiGo having over a 1,000 pilots, the hike in salaries will see the airline’s
monthly wage bill increase by Rs 8-10 crore.
IndiGo
President, Aditya Ghosh confirmed that salaries were being increased but said
that this was something which happened annually.
Aditya
declined to give specifics of what the increase in salaries is going to be.
The decision
to hike pilots’ salaries also comes after IndiGo reported a profit before tax
of Rs 993 crore and profit after tax of Rs 787 crore in fiscal 2013.
The
airline, which is not listed on the stock exchanges, submitted this data to the
Directorate-General of Civil Aviation in September this year.
The
airline had reported a profit after tax of Rs 128 crore in fiscal 2012.
Pilots
claim that the hike is justified as the airline is the market leader and the
latest hike will bring their salaries on par with what is being paid by Jet
Airways, the market leader before IndiGo.
