Adding to surmounting troubles at grounded airline Go First, its employees have started looking for jobs elsewhere after not being paid for three months.
“Employees are frustrated as salaries have not been paid for May, June and July, despite promises of retention bonuses and a quick restart,” said a senior executive working with the airline.
Initially there was a tapering off in the attrition rate.
“Around 20 people would quit every week, but that was expected. Most employees with five-plus years of experience with the airline were standing with the airline,” the executive said.
Situation spirals
However, the situation began to worsen since the beginning of this month, as employee dissatisfaction has only grown and there has been an increase in resignations.
“Around 150 employees, including 30 pilots, 50 cabin crew members and 50 ground handling and engineering employees, have put in their papers in the last two weeks,” another executive said.
They also shared that employee sentiment has been badly hit after the Supreme Court on August 7 refused to accept Go First’s appeal against a Delhi High Court order.
It gave permission for lessors to inspect and carry out maintenance work on their 30 leased aircraft twice a month.
Three months’ pay pending
A third executive said that a large number of resignations are expected if employees do not get paid soon.
“None of the departments has been paid for three months now, employee sentiments are at an all-time low and a mass exodus is expected,” they said.
The airline’s resolution professional had earlier this month communicated to employees that the airline’s cash flows were hit due to challenging circumstances.
“We are working tirelessly to resolve these challenges and restore normalcy as early as possible,” Shailendra Ajmera said in the email.
Go First Chief Executive Officer Kaushik Khona had said that salaries would be paid by August 10 but employees confirmed that hadn’t happened.
Funding woes
Khona acknowledged the challenges plaguing the airline, having been unable to access Rs 5 crore and Rs 35 lakh from the Central Bank of India and IDBI Bank, respectively.
He said the airline was lucky to secure Rs 56 crore in the past few months despite zero operations and this amount was used to pay insurance premiums and salary advances.
Go First on May 24 informed its employees that the April salary would be fully paid before recommencing operations.
“The CEO has assured that the salary for the month of April will be credited to your account before the commencement of operations. Furthermore, from the coming month, the salary will be paid in the 1st week of every month,” Captain Rajit Ranjan, Go First vice president, flight operations, had said.
Conditions for operations to resume normalcy
The airline plans to restart operations as soon as possible.
Khona said the airline needs at least 20 aircraft to return to service and break even on daily operations.
Operations can resume by September 2023 if Pratt & Whitney provides the engines.
The Singapore International Arbitration Commission (SIAC) on March 30, ordered American aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney to provide at least 10 serviceable engines by April 27, 2023, and the remainder by the year-end.
The airline had blamed the company for supplying faulty engines and failing to replace them in a timely manner, resulting in half of its 54 aircraft fleet being grounded.
