new delhi around 7900 employees in indias aviation sector have lost jobs due to the pandemic in the last one year vk singh minister of state for civil aviation informed the parliament on fridaytotal number of employees of domestic carriers has declined from around 74800 as on 31 mar 2020 to around 66900 as on 31 mar 2021 a decline of over 7900 employees he saidground handling staff total number of employees in ground handling has declined by 13300 in the same period the workforce is down from around 38330 as on 31 mar 2020 to around 25040 as on 31 mar 2021cargocargo however has seen an increase the total number of employees in cargo has increased from around 9550 as on 31 march 2020 to around 9930 as on 31 march 2021 an increase of around 380 employeeswhat about salary cutswhile no salary cuts have been implemented for air india employees drawing salaries less than rs 25000 per month pilots have seen a reduction of flying allowances subject to a minimum 20 hours flying in a monthfor pilots in air india express there has been a 40 reduction in allowances of pilots which include special pay domestic layover allowance quick return allowance check allowance instructor allowance and examiner allowanceflying allowance has also seen a steep 35 reductionall cabin crew have seen a 20 per cent reduction in their domestic layover allowancefor alliance air aviation commanders and copilots have seen a reduction in flying allowance while expat pilots have had to undergo a 40 per cent salary cut ground staff has seen their salaries decline by 5 per centindigo during the calendar year 2021 paycuts ranging from 25 to 48 were implemented for employees in managerial levels and above most of which have already been restored by now there was no impact on the salary of employee below managerial levelair asia salary cuts were implemented for employees drawing salary higher than rs 50000 per month the salary cuts have now been removed with effect from october 2021 and regular salaries have been restoredbut flights are going fullaccording to data made available by the aviation regulator directorate general of civil aviation dgca total passengers carried by domestic airlines has grown 26 on year with over 620 crore being carried from january to october 2021 as against over 493 crore in the same period a year ago since october 18 2021 scheduled carriers have been allowed to operate up to 100 per cent of their precovid19 capacity on domestic routes after the government suspended a capacity cap imposed on them following the resumption of flights in may 2020 after a twomonth countrywide lockdownwhat has the government done to boost the bleeding sectordespite the buoyancy in traffic numbers indian airlines are expected to incur losses worth 354 billion excluding any adjustments in this financial year aviation consultancy firm capa india has said the carriers would need continuous flow of capital including fund infusion of 1 billion during the octobermarch period to overcome these