Just a fortnight before Diwali, hopes came crashing for nearly 300 employees of Jet Airways posted in Delhi. While some of them got a call in the morning and were told that their services had been terminated, several others remained clueless about their fate throughout the day.

There will be many more to share the fate of these 300, as Jet Airways declared that this was merely the first phase of retrenchment and more personnel of all categories would face the axe.

The employees have been shown the door with merely one-month’s salary and one call, saying they have been “de-rostered” due to the reduction in the number of flights. “The number of flights Jet Airways will be offering in its winter schedule will be approximately 15 per cent lower than what was originally planned. As a first step, around 800 flight attendants, recruited recently under an expansion programme that has now been shelved, have been released. We are in the process of releasing personnel in other categories also,” said Wolfgang Prock Shauer, the chief executive officer of Jet Airways.

It’s not only those on probation who got the pink slip. Micheal Canon (28) had been working as a transport supervisor for nearly three years. Canon supports his wife, two children, a younger brother and an elderly brother. “It is too shocking and no one has been able to react yet. We just got a call, saying our flights have been cancelled. When we came to the office, there were no clear orders. Some said we would get our termination letters by evening, while others just did not respond,” said Canon, standing outside domestic terminal 1-B.

Among those retrenched were employees who had just started out on their professional life. “I was planning to get married in a year’s time. I had left a good job in a BPO to get into this profession,” said Pulkit Arora, the eldest of three siblings. “We all had paid Rs 55,000 each to Jet Airways for a four-month training and spent nearly Rs 70,000 more during the training. There will definitely not be any Diwali celebrations at home this year,” he added.

The contract signed by the employees says if they leave work after three years the sum paid for training will be refunded to them. However, if they leave before that, they will be paid Rs 25,000 only. Jet Airways officials did not specify if the retrenched employees would be given back the full amount.

Many of the dejected employees are now ready to work for even less money. “I was getting Rs 35,000 per month and the fact that it won’t be coming to my account any longer means my financial freedom has been taken away. I am even ready to work on a lower salary. They could have kept us as ground staff if they wanted fewer cabin crew members,” said Harpreet Kaur. She said she had been saving money to buy an LCD TV and for a trip to Dubai for her parent’s anniversary, something which won’t be possible now.