When will the employee unrest in Indian aviation end?

India’s domestic air travel is yet to show a sustained recovery more than two years after the pandemic.
India’s daily domestic air traffic was approximately 4.25 lakh passengers before Covid-19 struck. On Wednesday, Indian airlines carried 70% of that number at 2.95 lakh.
On April 17, almost 4.08 lakh passengers took to the skies, crossing the 4 lakh mark for the first time in two years. But the momentum was short-lived.
 
High jet fuel price is also hitting airlines’ profitability. Fuel accounts for around 40% of an airline’s operating expenses. A weakening rupee doubled the challenge as key cost items, notably fuel, maintenance and lease rentals are priced in dollars.
Now, airlines are facing another obstacle: Employee unrest is building up over salary issues.

Billionaire investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa is set to take to the skies soon and Jet Airways is being revived under a new owner.
Recruitment drives by these airlines along with Air India under its new owner Tata Group have set off a talent war, so much so that more than half of IndiGo’s flights were delayed on July 2nd after a large number of cabin crew members called in sick reportedly to attend Air India’s recruitment drive.
 
SpiceJet pilots are reportedly planning a similar action to demand their pre-Covid salary, two years of drastic cuts.
The discontent, which cuts across rank and file, has recently escalated into strikes.
 
Technicians of India’s largest airline IndiGo and Go First, have been reporting sick in large numbers at principle bases like Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad to protest low salaries. Technician salaries are low across the sector. On Tuesday, IndiGo issued termination letters to two technicians.

Similarly, despite partial restoration of salaries, pilots across airlines remain dissatisfied since their workload has increased significantly. IndiGo is currently operating more than 1,550 flights per day, higher than its pre-pandemic capacity. At the end of the March quarter, the carrier had a total cash balance of Rs 18,227 crore. That’s 1.8% lower than the same period last year.
 
[Byte of Vinamra Longani, Head of Operations, Sarin & Co]
 
GoFirst said it is explaining the present situation to its employees and addressing concerns, if any.
IndiGo is reportedly in the process of addressing some of the issues related to employee remuneration. In an internal e-mail, it has promised to ‘rationalise’ the salaries of its aircraft maintenance technicians and remove ‘anomalies cause by the pandemic’.
 
This is not just a problem of a few airlines. Across the sector, wages have not been restored for a certain proportion of employees. This is because, most airlines are cash strapped and IndiGo, despite its comfortable cash reserves, is perhaps being conservative due the lessons learned during the pandemic. Going ahead, fuel costs will be the primary determinant on whether airlines can keep their employees happy or not.