IndiGo annouces bonus for pilots, cabin crew

India's most profitable budget carrier IndiGo Airlines has announced a bonus of five percent for its pilots and cabin crew of. This bonus, which would be the fifth in a row, will be five percent of their annual salary.[caption id="attachment_2190771" align="alignleft" width="380"] Bonus for IndiGo pilots, cabin crew. Agency

[/caption] According to a Business Standard report, IndiGo is the highest recruiter among all Indian carrier, with a little over 8,200 employees including 1,300 pilots and 2,300 cabin crew. However, the airlines is also facing attrition with many of its pilots are being poached away by the Gulf-based carriers. "A majority of the pilots who are leaving or had left are junior commanders, seeking career progression and transition to wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 777 or Airbus A380. Junior commanders earn Rs 4-4.5 lakh a month; first officers earn Rs 2-2.5 lakh.."—the Business Standard report said. Recently, the airlines which operates 93 aircraft got the government's nod to import 400 additional aircraft over the next 10 years. "If the import approvals are anything to go by, on an average IndiGo will be importing one aircraft every week for the next 10 years making it the fastest and largest fleet expansion programme for any scheduled airline in India’s civil aviation history."—a report in The Financial Express said. The airlines had reported a 60 percent drop in net profit at Rs 317 crore for the 2013-14 fiscal.