Ritika
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- Airline Making Loss For 4 Years, SpiceJet Sends 80 Pilots On Leave Without Pay For 3 Months
New Delhi3 hours ago
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Low cost airline SpiceJet has sent 80 pilots on leave without pay (LWP) for three months. SpiceJet is currently facing liquidity crunch. According to the company’s policy, no employee is fired, that is why he has taken this decision. The company said that even after sending some pilots on leave without pay, it has sufficient number of pilots for the operation.
Loss-making airline for 4 years
Sources said the airline has sent around forty B737 aircraft pilots and around forty Q400 aircraft pilots on leave without pay for three months. The airline has been making losses for the last 4 years. SpiceJet has incurred a net loss of Rs 316 crore, Rs 934 crore, Rs 998 crore and Rs 1,725 crore in FY19, FY20, FY21 and FY22 respectively.
784 crore loss in June quarter
SpiceJet reported a loss of Rs 784 crore for the quarter ended June 30, compared to a loss of Rs 731 crore in the year-ago quarter. The company had a loss of 485 crores in the quarter ended March. Moreover, it is currently operating less than 50 per cent of the flights, while the airline has 90 aircraft in its fleet. About 50 aircraft are currently being operated.
large number of additional pilots
SpiceJet said in a statement that even after it grounded the 737 MAX aircraft in 2019, the airline had continued its planned pilot induction program in the hope that the MAX would be back in service soon. However, due to the prolonged grounding of the MAX fleet, SpiceJet has a large number of additional pilots. We will soon induct Max aircraft and these pilots will be back in service as soon as the induction starts.
Negotiations on raising $200 million
The airline’s chairman and managing director Ajay Singh had said on August 31 this year that the airline was in talks with investment bankers to raise up to $200 million soon. SpiceJet said: “During the LWP period, pilots will be eligible for all other employee benefits as applicable i.e. all insurance benefits and employee leave travel benefits as before.”
