Financially stressed Air India has proposed a
voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its executive cadre employees to bring
down manpower costs.
The Air India Board will deliberate on the
scheme at a meeting on Monday.
"This is the first
time that VRS is being proposed for AI employees. It is a big step for cutting
manpower in the best possible way," a senior civil aviation ministry
official told IANS.
"If it gets through, the scheme will be put
forth for approval of the government as special provisions for funds would have
to be made for the same.
VRS or 'golden handshake' is often described as
the most humane way to reduce the existing strength of the employees.
The scheme will be meant for the executive cadre
of the airline which includes the management. It will not be applicable to the
operations arm that has pilots, engineers and cabin crews within its fold.
The scheme is part of the company's turnaround
plan which was approved in April by the cabinet.
The airline's current workforce stands at
30,000. Of this, 19,000 will join the hived-off maintenance, repair and
overhaul (MRO) and ground handling (GH) business.
The board will also decide on the date of
induction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner into the carrier's fleet and the
normalisation of international operations that have been crippled by the 19-day
ongoing pilots' strike because of which the airline has lost Rs290 crore in
revenue.
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