Jetlite pilots, cabin crew to get new salary contract

New Delhi: Low cost airline Jetlite may soon roll out new salary package for its pilots and cabin crew under a different set of terms and conditions. According to sources, the pilots and the cabin crew, who were earlier on the direct payrolls of Air Sahara, will now be offered contract-based employment.
The pilots and the cabin crew, however, fear that the new structure could be worse, leading to high-scale attrition. It is only a few days back that Jetlite has re-signed the technicians of the erstwhile Air Sahara on new terms and conditions.
“We felt that the salaries were not at par, so we decided to offer new packages. Besides better salary structure, it included cover for health insurance which was not provided earlier,” Mr. Gary Kingshott, CEO, Jetlite told SundayET.
Mr Kingshott dispelled any fears about contracts, stating that they’ll continue to review the term and conditions all across the board. However, there is still a feeling of uncertainty among the pilot and the cabin crew community of Jetlite.
After the merger of Air Sahara and Jet Airways, the pilots, engineers, technicians and cabin-crew were absorbed as continued employee and were employed under the same terms and conditions as of Air Sahara. Those who were in the cargo, marketing and ground handling department along with the legal team continued for three months after which a selective few were retained.
The pilots of Jetlite feel that a similar story could be in the offing.
14/10/07 Dheeraj Tiwari/Economic Times