IndiGo, India’s largest airline, has announced a major increase in pilot allowances as it looks to stabilise operations and deal with recent flight disruptions.
The new allowances and benefits will come into effect from January 1.
IndiGo Raises Pilot Allowances to Tackle Crisis
The airline has revised several pilot allowances, including domestic layover, night stay, deadhead travel, and other operational categories.
IndiGo has also introduced a new benefit called the “tail swap allowance,” which will be paid when pilots operate a flight using a different aircraft than originally scheduled.
This allowance was not offered earlier.
These changes are part of IndiGo’s effort to address staffing stress and ongoing flight cuts following operational challenges.
Higher Pay for Layovers and Night Duties
Under the new structure, domestic layover allowances have seen a significant increase. Earlier, captains received ₹2,000 for a layover between 10 hours and 24 hours.
This has now been raised to ₹3,000. First officers will receive ₹1,500 instead of ₹1,000 for the same duration.
For every additional period beyond 24 hours, captains will now get ₹150 instead of ₹100, while first officers will receive ₹75 instead of ₹50.
Night allowances have also gone up. Captains will now be paid ₹2,000 per night hour, while first officers will receive ₹1,000.
Deadhead and Meal Allowances Also Increased
Deadhead allowances, paid when pilots travel as passengers for operational reasons, have been revised as well.
Captains will now receive ₹4,000 per block hour, up from ₹3,000.
First officers will get ₹2,000 instead of ₹1,500.
In addition, the meal allowance for captains during transit has doubled from ₹500 to ₹1,000, according to sources.
Background: Flight Cuts and DGCA Action
Despite the hike, the allowance increase covers only about 25 percent of the reductions made after the second phase of Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) rules came into effect in November.
Earlier this month, IndiGo faced major disruptions, grounding several aircraft and cancelling nearly 1,600 flights in a single day.
Following this, aviation regulator DGCA directed the airline to reduce its flights by 10 percent.
IndiGo currently employs 5,085 pilots, as stated by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol in a Rajya Sabha reply on December 8.
The latest announcement signals the airline’s attempt to improve pilot morale and bring stability back to its operations.
