Vistara to resume services in phased manner from 4 May

Full service airline, Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, will resume flight services in a phased manner from 4 May, after the lockdown to contain covid-19 is lifted, the airline said in a statement on Wednesday.

The airline, however, has asked a third of its staff to go on leave without pay for a period of upto three days between 15-30 April, in a bid to lower costs while its operations stand grounded.

“While the situation remains fluid, we plan to resume services in a phased manner starting 4 May 2020," the airline said in a statement.

"We will make every effort to protect the health safety of our customers and staff, following all regulatory guidelines as well as by adopting certain important, stringent preventive measures proactively," it added.

When contacted, a Vistara spokesperson said that the decision to send staff on leave without pay was taken to reduce costs, and also with an objective to preserve jobs.

The Indian aviation industry, including airlines, are currently grounded due to a government imposed lockdown to contain the spread of covid-19, which has killed thousnds of people worldwide.

As things stand, all international and domestic scheduled airline operations will remain suspended till 3 May, the ministry of civil aviation said on Tuesday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed the extension of the lockdown in his televised address.

The aviation sector is badly affected by its grounding as revenue loss of the aviation industry spread across airlines, airports and retail is estimated to be $1 billion-1.5 billion per month of lockdown, according to industry estimates.

India’s aviation industry is expected to post losses of $3-3.6 billion in the June quarter because of covid-19, with airlines sharing the bulk of the hit, aviation consultancy firm Capa India had said in a report last week. The sector, battered by the pandemic, is also expected to see sharp declines in both domestic and international passenger traffic, it said.

As a result, most airlines have initiated cost structuring which includes salary cuts for its employees. Vistara has asked senior management to go on leave without pay for six days during April, three days between 1-15 April, and another three days during the later period of the month.

"About 30% of the senior and mid-level staff, which is about 1,200 people, have been affected by this cost cutting decision," said a Vistara official, requesting anonymity.

Vistara spokesperson said that the airline has taken varius steps to conserve cash including sending a portion of staff on leave without pay during lockdown.

"As part of a number of steps we are taking to conserve cash and save costs, we had to make the difficult decision of further reducing our staff costs with the objective of preserving jobs," said a Vistara spokesperson.

"For the period between 15 - 30 April 2020, about 30% of Vistara's workforce will take compulsory no-pay leave of one to three days, depending on employment grades (three days for senior-most employees)," the person added.

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