SpiceJet has announced a revised salary structure for its captains ahead of Diwali, in which the carrier increased their monthly remuneration by around 55 per cent to Rs700,000 for a total of 80 hours of flying.
“Captains’ salaries revised to INR 7 lakh per month for 80 hours of flying. SpiceJet has been revising pilot salaries on a monthly basis; salary for October 2022 was hiked by 22 per cent,” a SpiceJet Spokeperson said on Wednesday.
The fresh hike will be applicable from November 1, 2022. With the latest hike, the salary of Captains at SpiceJet will be higher than their pre-Covid salary.
Salaries of Trainers and Senior First Officers have also been increased “commensurately”.
Earlier, SpiceJet employees had claimed that there was a delay in the disbursement of salaries for the month of July, and many were yet to receive Form 16 for the financial year 2021-22 as well.
The statement explained that the airline had been consistently increasing the base salary of its pilots.
As compared to August this year, September’s salary saw an increase of up to 10 per cent for Trainers and 8 per cent for Captains and First Officers. From October, the salary was hiked by another 22 per cent for Captains and First Officers.
However, SpiceJet has also sent 80 of its pilots on leave for three months, without pay.
The airline company said in an earlier statement said that “the move was taken as a temporary measure to harmonise costs … in line with the airline’s policy of not firing any employee, even during the Covid pandemic”.