Parul
As per news reports, Vistara chief has announced that senior employees will be going on compulsory leave without pay for up to three days between April 15 and 30 as a measure to further conserve the airline’s cash flow amid lockdown to combat the COVID-19 threat.
In fact, earlier in the month of March, the airline had also introduced compulsory leave without pay for up to three days between April 1 and April 14 for the senior employees.
In wake of this, the compulsory no-pay leave will affect around 1,200 employees. Meanwhile, the remaining 2,800 employees of the airline such as members of cabin crew and ground handling services will be unaffected.
According to reports, the airline is planning to restart flight operations in a phased manner whenever the government allows it to do so.
Vistara chief quoted, “With the announcement by the government of India on extending the lockdown, we continue to suspend all our domestic and international operations till May 3,2020 and this further impacted significantly on our cash flow with no revenue being generated over an extended period of time.”
He further added that the airline has made some progress with a few of its key partners and suppliers in reducing and/or deferring some of its immediate operating expenditures. He also highlighted that the airline took the tough decision on reducing staff costs with the objective to preserve jobs. Therefore, for the period April 15 to April 30 we will continue with Compulsory.
Meanwhile, no pay leave (CNPL) for all staff, except for staff in Level 1A and 1B, will be as follows: Staff in Level 4 and 5 to go on three days CNPL, Staff in Level 2 and 3 to go on two days CNPL, Staff in Level 1C to go on one day CNPL.
While the situation remains fluid, we are planning to resume flight operations in a phased manner whenever authorities allow us to do so, the Vistara CEO added.
