IndiGo announces to lay off 10 per cent of workforce to tide over COVID-19 crisis

New Delhi: IndiGo has decided to lay off 10 per cent of its workforce due to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, its CEO Ronojoy Dutta said on Monday. Impacted employees will get severance pay and will be paid for the notice period as well, the company said.

"From where things stand currently, it is impossible for our company to fly through this economic storm without making some sacrifices in order to sustain our business operations Therefore, after carefully assessing and reviewing all possible scenarios, it is clear that we will need to bid a painful adieu to 10 per cent of our workforce. It is for the first time in the history of IndiGo that we have undertaken such a painful measure," the company said in a statement.

As on March 31, 2019, the airline had 23,531 employees on its payroll.

IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said annual bonus and performance-linked incentive will be paid to the impacted employees whenever the airline decides to make this payment to the rest of the employees during this financial year.

IndiGo in June said it would cut up to 40 billion rupees ($533 million) in costs and speed up the return of older planes to leasing companies. IndiGo, which had 23,531 employees on its rolls as of March 2019, said it was flying only a small percentage of its full fleet of 250 airplanes.

Airlines around the world have been hammered by a slump in travel demand due to restrictions aimed at containing the coronavirus outbreak, and few expect a quick recovery. India resumed domestic passenger flights from May 25 after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, the airlines have been allowed to operate only a maximum of 45 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.