New Delhi  - India's top private airline, Jet Airways Ltd, Wednesday announced it will lay off 1,900 employees, in what is the single biggest retrenchments in the history of Indian aviation, media reports said.

With the move, Jet Airways that Monday struck an alliance with the country's second-largest private carrier, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd, pruned nearly 15 per cent of its staff.

"It is an unfortunate decision, which all of us in the company regret but it is an attempt to save the company and the jobs of the remaining employees," Jet Airways Executive Director B Saroj Dutta was quoted by the PTI news agency as saying.

"A total of 1,900 people are being served separation notice. Eight hundred have already been served notice. In the next few days, the others will also be served notice. It is an attempt to save the jobs of the remaining 11,100 employees," he added.

The sackings were to include cabin crew, pilots, ground staff and management, the NDTV Profit television news channel reported, saying the move was aimed at curtailing company losses caused by declining air travel and high fuel costs.

However Dutta said the decision to terminate the services of the employees had nothing to do with the alliance with Kingfisher.

The country's largest domestic carriers were hoping to save as much as 15 billion rupees (309 million dollars) through code sharing on domestic and international flights and shared ticketing, ground services and fuel management.

Meanwhile, employees said they were angry they were sacked without advance notice and were thinking of launching protests.

"They can't just send us a letter saying our services are terminated," a cabin crew member told news channels in the western city of Mumbai. "They cannot sack us without a reason."

"We will all be meeting soon to decide the future course of action," she said.

The layoffs were the third time the airline has cut its workforce. After acquiring Air Sahara in 2007, the carrier cut staff by 1,200, and in August 2008, JetLite, formerly Air Sahara, offered a voluntary separation scheme to more than 700 employees.

In September, Kingfisher Airlines had pruned 300 jobs, of which 5 per cent were from Kingfisher Airlines and the remaining were from another airline it had acquired.

Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways have a combined workforce of 19,000 people and 189 aircraft.

India, Asia's second-fastest-growing aviation market, has seen a fall-off in the sector since early this year as most of its airlines recorded losses.

Costlier ticket rates because of high fuel prices along with a slowing economy have hit demand, forcing airlines to cut costs and quit operations on loss-making segments.

The airlines posted a cumulative loss of 938 million dollars for the financial year ending March 2008.

Senior Civil Aviation Ministry officials have said the losses could double to 2 billion dollars this year, almost a third of the estimated 2008-2009 global aviation losses.

"It is a tough time for the aviation industry worldwide and also in India," Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told reporters. "We have to address these issues and have already formed an expert group in this regard." (dpa)