Bengaluru: It sound strange as Jet Airways has asked all pilots who joined in 2016 to take a 30 percent cut in salary or leave. After which around 300 pilots have been affected by the move. They have given deadline till 31st July to either accept the new salary structure or leave.

Those pilots who choose to quit will be allowed to leave much before the mandatory six month notice period. The new offer, however, offers the pilots 10 days extra leaves apart from the weekly offs should they choose to accept.

In a letter to the affected pilots, accessed by a news channel, Jet Airways management said that the move was necessitated by fleet and network rationalization along with increasing cost efficiency. “As part of this exercise, we have had to revisit our manpower requirements and would like to communicate the proposed changes,” as mentioned in letter .

As per the revised Cost to Company structure, salaries for First Officers who are on probation has been cut from Rs 2.1 Lakh to Rs 1.34 Lakh. Salaries of those pilots who have served the stipulated probation period has been reduced from Rs 2.3 Lakh to 1.8 Lakh.

A Jet spokesperson said, “Jet Airways continues to remain committed to all its employees which includes crew members and trainees, who are essentially a part of the Jet family.”

“However, certain developments in the market, including that of the Gulf region, as well as our continued efforts to enhance internal efficiencies, has resulted in the review of our network, fleet and crew utilization. Consequently, as a proactive measure, the Company has made interim alignments to its crew work patterns, which will be reviewed in future, in line with network growth,” the spokesperson added.

Sources told Media that Jet Airways, which is the country’s second-largest in terms of market share, has got excessive pilots after a number of them joined from other airlines. This comes at a time when business also has not been running as usual.

While India’s domestic passenger traffic rose 22 percent in the fiscal year ended March 31, Jet Airways saw only 5 percent growth and its market share fell to 18 percent at the end of June from about 23 percent two years ago, according to industry data.

The airline, partly-owned by Etihad Airways of the United Arab Emirates, is also facing headwinds in international markets due to economic weakness in the oil-rich Gulf region that has affected air travel and is hurting its revenues.