After sacking 800 employees on Tuesday, the country’s leading private carrier Jet Airways said on Wednesday that the process of laying off employees has not ended and more terminations are coming soon. A total of 1900 Jet employees are being ‘separated’.
"It is an unfortunate decision, which all of us in the company regret but it is an attempt to save the company and the jobs of the remaining employees," Jet Airways Executive Director B Saroj Dutta told reporters at the airlines headquarters in Mumbai. Employees are being sacked for the first time in 15 years of Jet history, he added.
Dutta said while many have been already served notice of separation, more will be given notice in the next few days.
"A total of 1,900 people are being served separation notice. 800 have already been served notice. In the next few days the others will also be served notice. It is an attempt to save the jobs of remaining 11,100 employees," he said.
He however said that the company will consider taking back the employees once the negative tide begins to recede.
Jet further said that it is suspending its expansion programme. He said the decision to terminate the employees, which will result in savings of USD 12 mn a year, had nothing to do with the alliance entered into with Kingfisher. "It (alliance) has nothing to do with the workforce of the companies. These are independent decisions."
Dutta said all sections and activities of the company were being covered by this action, which the airline said was inevitable in view of the declining traffic volumes.
Jet would talk to all sacked employees tomorrow. We have spent money in training them and would like to take them back when market conditions are good, Dutta said.
Those sacked were from the cabin crew, pilots, ground staff, airport services and management departments.
"It is part of handling economic slowdown and carefully rationalising the operation," a Jet official said, adding the downsizing is based on capacity, load-factor and traffic patterns.
Jet Airways chief Naresh Goyal said earlier in the day that the lay off had become necessary to ensure proper salaries are paid to existing employees.
While clarifying that only the services of the staff on probation have been terminated, the Jet chief added that the company decided on the move because of a reduction in the number of flights being operated.
"They (sacked employees) were probationers. Our idea is not to get rid of (permanent) staff. Without them no one can exist," Goyal said.
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