High Court Orders Air India To Pay Salaries To Pilots Who Were Fired; Air India Says No Money To Pay Salary

Air India has been caught up in quite the storm, and now the airline has been ordered by the high court to pay the pilots that were sacked. 

Read on to find out all the details!

Air India Ordered By High Court To Pay One Month Salary To Suspended Pilots 

The dispute between the pilots and Air India is not new; it made the news when 61 pilots took their case to the courts. They complained that the airline violated the contract it made with them. As per reports, Air India had previously promised its employees that there would be no layoffs during the critical situation presented by the coronavirus pandemic. 

There was news that from July 20, the national carrier in a staff notice had told its employees ‘offices will function in full strength’ and that ‘employees who do not attend office (from then) will have to apply for leave or shall be marked absent’.

The judges have suggested that the pilots and Air India could come to some sort of a compromise or a golden handshake agreement. This agreement states that Air India should pay its employees a salary of about one month. However, this is way off from what the Air India employees are demanding. 

Lawyers Of Pilots Demand All Allowances And Salaries From April 1

The lawyers of the pilots have stated that the pilots should all receive the allowances and salaries that they owed as of April 1. Instead, Air India could also follow through on its contract and re-employ the pilots. 

However, Air India has also announced that their financial situation is critical. The current situation has resulted in 90% of its pilots not being able to fly and losses of more than  $175.3mn (Rs. 1300 crores). This led to Air India suspending them in April and laying them off in August. 

The huge debts have resulted in the Union Government to privatize or shut down the loss-making Air India Ltd, which was confirmed by the civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

The Delhi High Court has asked Air India to consider the one month salary settlement The Court has also said while Air India’s situation is understandable, “we cannot also let the employees be left to hang high and dry.”

The next hearing is scheduled for December 16th and we’ll keep you informed as we get any more updates.