Two of the retrenched trainees at the Citu office. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

The lay-off wave rocking the skies crashed on Calcutta with the termination of 22 trainee cabin crew members of Jet Airways on Wednesday.

Nine of those retrenched, all between 20 and 22 years old, later turned up at the Citu office at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport and sought the union’s help.

“I was on sick leave. Today, I called up the roster department in Calcutta and learnt that I have been de-rostered,” said Shovna Sewa, 20. “The Mumbai office later informed me that my service had been terminated.”

Sewa had left her graduation midway to join Jet Airways. “What will I do now? I can’t go back to college.”

Airline sources said the average salary of the dismissed trainees was around Rs 30,000 a month.

The sacked trainees held a two-hour meeting with Citu leaders, including Dum Dum MP Amitava Nandi. “The decision is inhuman and wrong,” said Swapan Mitra, the general secretary of the Citu-backed airport ground workmen’s union.

After the meeting, 22-year-old Reema Lepcha, who had spent Rs 55,000 on a three-month air-hostess course in Mumbai. summed up the mood: “We sought Citu’s help out of desperation. Let’s see what the leaders can do…”

Citu members will organise a rally protesting the sacking at the airport on Thursday afternoon.

The latest round of lay-off came two days after the announcement of a strategic alliance between Jet and Kingfisher. But the airline clarified that the sacking had nothing to do with the merger.

Jet Airline issued a statement in the evening, saying economic considerations had prompted the pruning. “The domestic aviation market has declined by double digit figures in recent months... Jet’s long-haul expansion had to be pruned because of international developments... Personnel hired for expansion, probationers and unconfirmed personnel will have to be released,” stated a Jet spokesperson.

While the airline has downsized its staff strength, it is yet to cut the number of flights from Calcutta. Jet now operates 19 domestic and two international flights, to Bangkok and Dhaka, from Calcutta.