Jet Airways staff to meet COO over delayed salaries

Mumbai: Salary payments at the Naresh Goyal-run Jet Airways continue to be delayed despite the Rs 2,060 crore infusion by Etihad, and the issue would be raised at the meeting of the staff representatives and chief operating officer Hameed Ali this week, sources said. The meeting is scheduled for May 28.

The company, which reported a loss of Rs 268 crore in the December quarter, is set to declare its March quarter and full fiscal financial numbers later this week. "Earlier the company used to pay salary on the last day of the month. Then the payment date was rescheduled to 7th of every month and thereafter to 15th after the airline was hit by a financial crisis.

Unfortunately, this has become a new norm and we are paid around the middle of the month even after the Rs 2,060-crore Etihad deal," a Jet Airways source said. Stating that the employees earlier accepted the deferred payment schedule as the company was going though "financial turbulence", sources said, however even after the Etihad deal, the management maintains that the airline is short of funds.

"We have decided that the day we feel the company is not in a position to pay us, we leave the airline as we don't want to meet the same fate as our peers in Kingfisher Airlines," sources added. When contacted, a Jet Airways spokesperson said salaries are disbursed as per a pre-determined schedule. "Jet Airways has always met and will continue to honour all its obligations to its employee," the airline said in a statement, without admitting to delayed payments. The airline also did not say on what date of the month it is paying salaries.