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Lufthansa closes Indian offices; lays off employees
By siliconindia
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Thursday, 12 February 2009, 23:29 IST |
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Bangalore: After closing down four of its seven offices in India on Friday, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe's second largest carrier, has terminated the services of several employees overnight, owing to the worsening economic downturn, reported The Economic Times.
Speaking on the request of anonymity, a Lufthansa official said, "The reservation staff that handles clients' ticketing services has been shown the exit door and the airline has asked the sales personnel to work from their homes."
The laid off employees were not provided with any retirement benefits of other perks that would compensate their loss of job and were allowed to take home only their basic salary. Employees averred that no provision has been made for a voluntary separation scheme.
The Lufthansa employees' union in Delhi has also decided to move the court seeking appropriate action against the company for terminating their services without issuing prior notices to them, the airline official said. The airline has close to ten staff working in each of its centers - Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. With airlines scrapping their commission to travel agents citing cost escalation, more jobs are set to be axed in the travel industry.
Passengers will now have to get their tickets reserved either through the travel agents or seek assistance from the airline's call centers facility in Delhi. "Already there is a wide gap between the passenger demand and the service providers. A move like this by the airline will only widen the gap as call center executives are not always properly trained to clarify all customer queries," said D Sudhakara Reddy, president, Air Passengers Association of India (APAI).