Covid-19: GoAir decides to reduce pay across board

 GoAir on Wednesday decided to institute a limited pay reduction measure across the board to deal with the economic fallout of Covid-19 and the lockdown.

The company communicated this decision, which will be administered in the pay for the month of March, to its employees.

The quantum of reduction varies in scale for various grades of employees with the least burden being put on the lowest salary earning category in the company.

Queried on the development, a GoAir Spokesperson said that the company has taken a conservative approach considering that "we don't have a view of how the situation will pan out. Besides, we are also awaiting govt measures like in the case of all major countries in the world have done."

The airline had earlier said that its top management's pay will be reduced by 50 per cent during this period.

On March 17, the airline had said that it has initiated a short term rotational leave without pay programme that "will not only help the company counter the short term reduction in capacity, but will also ensure that a cross section of our employees stay away from the workplace for a month at a time to ensure business continuity".

"Knowing that this will put a financial burden on the affected employees and having studied what companies have done in other countries to help guide our plans, this decision was not taken lightly," the company had said in a statement that time.

"In addition to addressing our short term financial and network requirements, airlines in India have petitioned the Government of India for immediate support, as most other governments around the world have already provided to their similarly affected airlines."

According to the statement, the airline has taken many immediate measures to make the business more efficient.

"GoAir has been profitable for the past several years and the airline remains on track to receive 12-15 aircraft each year through the end of 2025 in support of our planned growth," the statement had said. IANS