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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
Aditya Anand

Coronavirus | GoAir staff left in the lurch after contracts end

Hard times: GoAir temporarily suspended all international flights from March 17 to April 15.

A day after GoAir suspended international operations alongside putting its employees on a rotational leave-without-pay programme, letters terminating employee contracts, mostly those of expatriate pilots, went viral on social media.

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A spokesperson for the airline said that as India had temporarily banned travel to and from a host of countries, with airlines across the world taking drastic measures to handle the extraordinary situation, GoAir had been forced to terminate the contracts of its expatriate pilots in line with its reduced international capacity.

On Tuesday, GoAir had temporarily suspended all international flights from March 17 to April 15.

“No sooner than the situation improves, GoAir will reinstate these flights and operate them at the earliest opportunity,” an airline spokesperson said.

“Knowing that this will put a financial burden on the affected employees and having studied what companies have done in other countries to help guide our plans, this decision was not taken lightly,” a spokesperson said referring to the two decisions.

Drastic step

GoAir said the airline had to take these drastic steps as India had temporarily banned all passengers coming from a host of countries and vice-versa.

This restriction will come into effect from 12:00 hrs GMT on March 18, at the port of first departure, and shall remain till March 31.

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