A retrenched flight attendant of Jet Airways leaves after meeting Raj Thackeray in Mumbai on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Mumbai, Oct. 15: The smiling face of New India has suddenly gone cold with Jet Airways showing the door to 1,900 employees — all of them probationers — in the most sweeping job cut since the country tried to become part of the global economy.

After laying off 800 flight attendants yesterday, Jet announced today it would serve termination notices on another 1,100 to save the company. Those grounded — cabin crew, pilots and ground staff, including 200 engineers and management officials — make up roughly 15 per cent of Jet’s total employee base of 13,000.

Among those suddenly without a job are 22 cabin crew probationers based in Calcutta, who have sought redress from Citu, the labour arm of the CPM. The outfit has rallied around the sacked staff, saying it would ask the Centre to ground all Jet flights unless it withdraws the order.

Citu found an ally in Raj Thackeray, who warned that no Jet flight would be allowed to leave Mumbai if the notices were not rescinded.

Civil aviation minister Praful Patel said his “sympathies” were with the employees but added: “It is an HR issue of the airline and the government can do little about it.”

The airline, which on Monday entered into a tie-up with Kingfisher Airlines to rationalise costs, said the lay-offs — which it is officially describing as “release” — would result in savings of $1 million a month.

“A total of 1,900 people are being served separation notices. Eight hundred have already been served notice. In the next few days, the others will also be served notice. It is an unfortunate decision, which all of us in the company regret, but it is an attempt to save the company and the jobs of the remaining 11,100 employees,” Jet Airways executive director Saroj Dutta said.

Some termination notices were couriered yesterday, while others will be delivered in the week leading up to Diwali.

“I wonder why they could not wait till the festive season got over,” said Rahul, a flight attendant.

No reason has been given for the termination. Nor was it clear what compensation, if any, the retrenched employees would get. “The compensation package is likely to include one month’s salary. They are all probationers and their contract does not stipulate a bigger compensation,” said a Jet official.

Tamanna Suri (name changed), a former Qatar Airways airhostess who had returned to the country and joined Jet because she wanted to be with her family, said: “The termination letter I received today states that you can be terminated while on probation. We would be returned a deposit of Rs 55,000 they took when we joined, and a salary for 15 days for October. They asked us to come to the HR department tomorrow with all documents, uniforms and badges to finish the paperwork.”

Aviation sources said the lay-offs could be part of a pressure tactic applied by the private airline to get a bailout package — or some financial aid — from the Centre.

Pink slips and downsizing are not uncommon in India, especially in the financial, aviation and IT sectors, but the blow has often been cushioned by separation schemes. “But none of the previous lay-offs were as huge as this one and certainly not as cruel,” said a Jet official.

Many of those who lost their jobs were members of the cabin crew who, in their blue and yellow or white uniforms and wearing pleasant smiles, are visible faces of a new and young India. Several are from small towns, some took loans to fund their courses. Most earned upwards of Rs 35,000 a month.

The laid-off employees claimed their contracts said their services could be terminated only for misconduct. “What misconduct have I done? We were working as hard as possible to serve the company,” said a flight steward.

Jet claims most of the retrenched personnel were taken on to aid its expansion plans which have been put on hold because of the economic downturn. “It has nothing to do with our alliance with Kingfisher,” stressed Dutta.

Jet expects the lay-offs to curtail losses caused by declining air travel and high fuel costs. “The number of flights Jet Airways will be offering in (the) winter schedule will be approximately 15 per cent lower than originally planned,” Jet CEO Wolfgang Prock Schauer said in a statement.

Dutta said the airline would withdraw its London-Amritsar flight.