IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta told his employees on Thursday that the airline has decided to roll back the pay cuts, which were announced earlier for senior staff members, for the month of April in deference to the “government’s wishes”.

“However, your Excom (Executive Committee) members and SVPs (senior vice presidents) have volunteered to take pay cuts this month. For everyone else, you can expect your April salaries to be paid without the pay cuts,” Dutta told employees through an email, reports news agency Press Trust of India.

India has been under lockdown since March 25 to curb the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed 681 lives and infected over 21,000 in the country.

All domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this period. As a result, revenues of the Indian aviation industry have been hit hard. “In deference to our government’s wishes of not reducing pay during the lockdown, we have decided not to implement the previously announced pay cuts during the month of April,” Dutta added in the email.

He had announced on March 19 that the airline was instituting pay cuts for senior employees and he would himself take the highest cut of 25 per cent amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit the aviation industry hard.

“I am personally taking a 25 per cent pay cut, SVPs (senior vice presidents) and above are taking 20 per cent, VPs (vice presidents) and cockpit crew are taking a 15 per cent pay cut, AVPs (assistant vice presidents), Bands D along with cabin crew will take 10 per cent and Band Cs five per cent,” Dutta had said on March 19.

The COVID-19 outbreak has proved to cause major losses for the aviation sector around the world. After aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a circular asking airlines to stop taking bookings for travels after May 3, last day of the lockdown, budget carrier Indigo had closed all its bookings till May 31, 2020.

“There was no direction/clearance, which allows the airlines to start bookings for the journeys to be undertaken with effect from the 4th of May 2020. Further, it has been noted that airlines have started booking tickets for journeys with effect from from 4th of May 2020. In this respect, it is brought to the notice of all concerned that no decision to commence the operation of domestic/international flights wef the 4th of May 2020 has been taken yet. In view of this, all airlines are hereby directed to refrain from booking tickets as described above,” the DGCA had said in the circular issued on Sunday.

State-run Air India has already stopped taking bookings till May 31 and all other private airlines are also ready to follow the regulators’ directives.