Salary Cuts in KF
Just to put the record straight, KF has decided to adopt ( from Jan 1 2009)erstwhile Air Deccan salary structure for pilots...which is a fixed base salary and a flying allowance per hour in three slabs.
In other words , Captains now have to fly 60 hrs to get their earlier pay which one was assured of while flying anywhere between 0-70 hrs. So all is not lost as long as one gets to fly those hours but with the integration of the two companies and reduction/rationalization of routes, flying has come down lately.
I think its all about DEMAND & SUPPLY when it comes to pilots ( locals/expats), we had a batch of argentinians join my ex airline in 2002-03 and some of them reached an iconic status ( some were also told to stop distributing their visiting cards to our female staff at the check-in counter!)..so I guess we should resist generalizing countries ( esp. India ), work cultures and individuals...even a billionaire needs to make money at the end of the day to stay afloat.
We are in the middle of a global economic turmoil and airlines will look at ways and means to cut costs...I just hope 2009 ducks this trend ....