Just a day after the announcement of the Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways alliance, there was a shock for the employees of the two airlines.

Jet Airways has laid off up to 1,000 employees with a day of the announcement. The reason? Rationalizing operations. Unconfirmed staffers of the airline have been given a 30-day compensation package.

Together, Jet and Kingfisher have 60 % of the Indian aviation market. By working together on many areas, including sharing of crew, the two airline companies hope to snip rising costs.

Layoffs Galore

The axing of crew members is in fact the largest for India’s aviation industry. The deadly blow came about soon after the Jet Airways - Kingfisher alliance was struck and it has been reported that even staffers in uniform who had been waiting to be picked for their daily job were asked not to come to work. Some of them who called their office to know why were bluntly told on their face that they had been derostered till further notice.

While Jet Airways has said that the slowdown in traffic has led to the termination, the speed at which the pink slips came has been baffling. Jet has a total of 1,903 cabin crew at its Mumbai base.

Deccan ex-crew worried

Meanwhile, the Jet Airways - Kingfisher camaraderie has come about as a reason for worry for erstwhile Air Deccan employees who are currently working with Kingfisher Airlines. As the operational alliance between Jet and Kingfisher goes on stream, it is only natural that more jobs stand to be cut in their bid to cut costs.

The former employees of Deccan who are with Kingfisher following the takeover fear pink slips coming their way. It may be recalled that Kingfisher had, in the last month, laid off 300 employees, a majority of them from ex-Deccan crew. Post-merger of Deccan with Kingfisher, Mallya’s company had absorbed close to 3,000 Deccan employees. Fear prevails among these staffers on where their career is heading for. At a time when the worldwide aviation industry itself is seeing less job openings, ex-Deccan staffers don’t have anything to hope for.

Capt. Gpinath mulls Deccan re-acquisition?

With such a scenario developing fast, Capt Gopinath, the man who conceptualized low-cost Deccan, is rumoured to be looking forward to buying back his dream child from Mallya. Deccan Air was sold to Vijay Mallya a year ago and the grapevine says that if Mallya wants t exit the LCC space, Gopinath would be only keen to buy Deccan back. The confidence also stems from the fact that investors are waiting in the wings to help Deccan fly as it used to earlier. Gopinath’s concern is that with the Jet-KF alliance, low cost aviation will cease to exist.

Air India: To join or not to…

The alliance in the meantime is looking at more strong players in the fold. Mallya and Jet’s Goyal are said to have approached state- owned Air India to form part of the alliance. However, Air India has not yet commented on this. With the Kingfisher-Jet Airways combine pocketing more than 58 per cent of the domestic aviation market, the joining hands of Air India too would give the alliance a dominant 72 per cent domestic share.