IndiGo suspends ‘handful’ of pilots over call for mass sick leave

The country’s biggest airline, IndiGo, has suspended some pilots after simmering anger among them over continued pay cuts imposed at the beginning of the pandemic led to calls for mass sick leave on Tuesday. “We confirm that a handful of IndiGo pilots have been suspended from duty for indulging in activities that are in contravention to the terms of their employment and in violation of the code of conduct of the Company,” the airline said. Several pilots said they were shocked by the airline’s disciplinary action. The airlines’ pilots have been “frustrated” at steep pay cuts that continue to be in place at the airline despite revival in demand for air travel for the past few months, and ebbing of COVID-19 cases. For the past two years, pilots have seen a salary cut of 28%, while their flying allowances have been halved. Last week, a few pilots had given a call for reporting sick on April 5 to protest the pay cuts as well as discussed forming a union of IndiGo employees, followed by a “grand union” of employees across various airlines. IndiGo responded to these internal murmurs by partially reversing its pay cuts last week. It reduced 28% of pay cuts to 20% for pilots and 38% for examiners to 30%. It also promised that additional revision of up to 6.5% would be implemented from November 1, 2022.<br/>