Pay & conditions · Asia-Pacific
SpiceJet: pilot jobs, pay and conditions
India · Low-cost · SG / SEJ
Not hiring
SpiceJet is in a deep financial crisis in 2026. About 21 aircraft were flying in June 2026 (three A320s damp-leased with crew from July). Pilots and other staff have gone unpaid for months since March/April 2026. In Oct 2026, Q400 pilots said they would not fly until their arrears were paid, with backing from ALPA India, and the DGCA has opened an operational and financial review (Sept 2026). The official careers page lists only cabin crew interviews and sends other queries to careers@spicejet.com.
Pay
Captain: Rs 7.5 lakh a month for 75 flight hours, under the structure effective 16 May 2023 (Outlook India, 23 May 2023). Captains also get a loyalty reward of up to Rs 1 lakh a month that grows with tenure. This replaced the Nov 2022 structure of Rs 7 lakh for 80 hours (100knots, Oct 2022). FO figures (Rs 5-7 lakh a month) come from an aviationa2z article (Apr 2025, updated Jan 2026) that relies on salary sites, so they are low confidence. Press reports say FO and trainer pay rose by a similar amount, but give no official FO figure. An NCLT ruling of 12 Jun 2026 shows a trainee captain hired in Apr 2019 on an annual package of Rs 77.40 lakh with a fixed basic and variable parts. In practice, salaries have been late or paid in stages since 2022-23, and many staff were unpaid from March 2026. Only staff earning up to Rs 51,000 got March 2026 pay in June.
Agreement news
- NCLT dismisses insolvency plea filed by ex-SpiceJet pilot (C.P. (IB)-148/ND/2025) ↗
Taxscan · summary · 2026
Open vacancies (0)
No open pilot vacancies listed right now.
Conditions
- Allowances
- Pay is tied to monthly flight hours (75 hrs for the captain figure). Captains get a loyalty reward of up to Rs 1 lakh a month.
- Fleet
- B737-800, B737 MAX 8, Q400
- Careers site
- spicejet.com ↗
Requirements
- Bond
- No bond terms found. The cadet programme charges a non-refundable Rs 5,000 application fee and a Rs 20,000 assessment fee (aviationa2z).
- Licence
- DGCA CPL (FO) / ATPL (captain) with FRTOL and RTR
- Other
- Contract type (permanent or fixed-term) could not be confirmed from an open source. No expat pilot programme was found in 2026.
Sources
From published reports in the aviation press · figures from 2023-05 · checked 1 Nov 2026
- Outlook India - SpiceJet hikes salaries for pilots (23 May 2023)
- 100knots - SpiceJet revised salary structure from November (Oct 2022)
- aviationa2z - SpiceJet airlines pilot salary (updated Jan 2026)
- Business Today - SpiceJet pilots refuse to fly over salary delay (12 Oct 2026)
- ETV Bharat - SpiceJet staff without salaries since March (9 Jun 2026)
- Free Press Journal - Inside SpiceJet's deepening crisis (25 Apr 2026)
- Taxscan - NCLT dismisses insolvency plea by ex-SpiceJet pilot (17 Jun 2026)
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