The fate of about 400 employees at the country's largest private air services operator, Jet Airways, hangs in midair as the carrier has imposed tough measures on their jobs by asking them to relocate to offices in either Delhi or Mumbai or face the axe. Moreover, employees in centres other than Mumbai and Delhi have been asked to relocate at their own expense should they choose to continue to work for the airline. Those at the receiving end include the airline's pilots.

These measures were revealed by sources to The Indian Express as the carrier's management sat in a late night meeting on Wednesday to decide on the airline's future. Sources revealed that Jet was looking at various pro-active cost cutting measures to save operational and fixed costs. The airline would be downsizing heavily from its operational departments, mainly the dispatch and rostering departments.

The company will also be closing its ticketing counters in other cities and the task would be taken care of only by travel agents. "They're not sacking people upfront or else history might just repeat itself," said an airline official referring to last year's agitation of over 800 cabin crew members of Jet Airways who were sacked but eventually absorbed into the airline.

"We have an expatriate management that doesn't understand that in India one cannot shift base on a whim. Our Irish vice president says there is only one base in Ireland. But compare the size or Ireland to that of India," said an airline pilot who has been asked to relocate to Mumbai.