Mumbai: India's largest carrier IndiGo has grounded about 16 planes out of its total fleet of 260 aircraft and is asking the employees to take 10 to 20 per cent salary cuts as it grapples with the impact of coronavirus on domestic and international flights.
"Governments across the globe have issued travel advisories which have resulted in a virtual shutdown of all our international flights," said an airline official on Thursday.
"Domestic bookings too are down around 20 per cent and it is not clear that the situation will not get worse before it gets better. With the precipitous drop in revenues, the very survival of airline industry is at stake," said the official.
"We know how hard it is for families to take a cut in take-home pay. But unfortunately, it is impossible for our company to fly through this economic storm without all of us making some sacrifice," the official added.
A week earlier, IndiGo said in regulatory filings that its quarterly earnings will take a hit as daily bookings decline by 15 to 20 per cent with coronavirus spreading across the world.
"In addition, the rupee has also depreciated sharply which will have an adverse impact on our dollar-denominated liabilities primarily on account of capitalised operating leases," it said.
At the end of December 2019, IndiGo had a fleet of 257 aircraft, of which 126 were A320ceo, 96 A320neo and 10 A321neo besides 25 ATRs.
