MUMBAI- As Vistara is set to merge with Air India (AI), all Vistara employees will now be employed by Air India Group whether they like it or not. However, there is a significant difference between the salaries of Air India and Vistara Technicians and Engineers (even helpers).
Media has already talked about Pilots and Cabin crew but no one is speaking or writing to the Engineering department and as a former AME student it’s my duty and responsibility to find the truth and bring it into the limelight.
Vistara Engineers and Technician’s Salary
But before we compare let’s find out how much a Vistara Engineer and technician get in hand per month after putting in lots of physical and mental effort.
We asked our sources and they told us on a condition of anonymity that Vistara engineering staff are not getting any raises and they will have to continue at the same salary despite their counterpart working in Air India getting 30-40% higher salary for the same position.
Vistara Technicians Salary
Here’s the average salary of a Vistara technician they take home (in hand) per month:
- Junior Technician (Jr Tech): 24-25,000 INR
- Technician: 33-34K INR
- Senior Technician (Sr Tech): 40-42K INR
- Master Technician: 52-53K INR
Remember, the above-mentioned salary varies based on the experience they have in the field. Further, people working in different departments have some differences in pay. Now let’s talk about Engineers’ salaries.
Vistara Engineers Salary
Here’s the average in-hand salary of Engineers they get monthly:
- Assistant Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME): 85-90K INR
- Fullscope AME or simple AME: 1.2 Lakh to 1.3 Lakh INR
- Senior AME (Sr AME): 1.4 to 1.5L INR
- Duty Engineer: 1.7 to 1.8L INR
While managers who manage the staff who do the actual work on aircraft get more than 2 lakh monthly.
Now let’s see some of the round-off salaries of Air India engineering staff (I will make detailed posts on this in the coming weeks).
Air India Technicians and Engineers’ Salary
According to another source who again asked for anonymity revealed the following salary for engineers and technicians monthly (Note: This will be very similar to AIESL technicians and engineers as Air India has hired some of them under its group):
- Junior Technician: 28,000 INR
- Technician: 35K INR
- Senior Technician: 45K INR
- Trainee AME: 70K INR
- CAT A AME or Assistant AME: 92,000 INR
- Fullscope AME: Around 1.5 Lakh
- Senior Aircraft Engineer (AME) and Duty Engineer: Over 2 Lakh INR
Again this varies a little based on experience. But our point is you can clearly see the difference between Air India and Vistara engineer staff salaries, despite having similar positions.
On the other hand, Vistara Pilots (Flight crews) were earning better but some of them had to compromise their pay while many got similar contracts.
Now why does this occur?
No Union in AME Field
The unfair and clear discrimination occurred because the Aircraft Maintenance engineering field lacked a union. While the Pilot and Cabin crew are represented by a nationwide reputed union. They got a fair deal after going on protest, but Vistara engineering staff is suffering and will suffer after the merger.
According to AIAMEU, the nascent stage union under formation represented by Prashant Patel (Secretary of AIMEU) told us that this unfair treatment is seen across the field.
He even revealed that the Air India Group HR department has done a conspiracy against the engineering staff. He said:
On 13 September 2024 an interview was taken by Mumbai Air India in which as part of a conspiracy the salaries of the people of the engineering department were reduced.
This means, that staff who were transferred to Air India got reduced pay or no raise. While the majority of Pilots working in Vistara got the identical contract they were getting.
AIAMEU Secretary even said ‘We urge all the staff to come together and raise your issue and be part of the union, so we can better advocate such issues in future and avoid such exploitation and unfair treatment to our colleagues.’
You all can join the Union and it’s simple, the first step is to join the WhatsApp and Telegram groups and in the coming days you will be notified of the process of becoming a member.
Follow the AIAMEU channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNnZye8Pgs8NCJM7F45
Join the Telegram channel dedicated to AME field people: https://t.me/+enNvH4E08DI5NmNl
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