SpiceJet, which had resorted to hourly-basis pay for pilots amid the pandemic, on Sunday said it has introduced a new “interim fixed salary system” for captains and first officers.

The airline said not only will pilot salaries “increase significantly” under the new pay structure but those who fly more than the stipulated minimum hours will be paid overtime. However, some pilots contested the assurance given by SpiceJet and claimed “stress” due to the continued reduction in their salaries implemented in April last year.

The pilots claimed that they were being paid a third or a half of their pre-Covid-19 salaries despite the company achieving an occupancy rate of over 85 per cent on passenger flights and being among the largest air cargo carriers during the pandemic.

The Gurgaon-based airline said it had adopted a “block hour payment system” after the Covid-19 outbreak effective April 1, 2020, wherein pilots were paid based on the hourly flying rate without having to send anyone on “leave without pay”.

“While many other airlines and organisations severed employee contracts during the pandemic, there was no retrenchment in SpiceJet,” a Spicejet spokesperson said.