Friday, 15 June 2012

Is Air India management serious about running the show?


A worried Air India management is now looking for ways and means to have its grounded fleet on air as soon as possible to offset the losses (over `400 crore in 40 days) as it feels the government just might disapprove of the `30,000 crore bailout it has promised to the financially beleaguered state-run carrier.
The Cabinet has recently released an equity of `1,900 crore to Air India as part of the `30,000 crore bailout package. However, with over 400 pilots into a 40-day strike now, the international operations of Air India have taken a major hit .
“Milestones as laid out by the government have to be achieved, or else it will be difficult even for the government to justify the bailout package,” a senior AI official said requesting anonymity.
While losses of the airline run into `10 crore everyday as per management estimates, `400 crore is already lost. The non-alacrity of the management in reaching a consensus on the pilots strike is obvious. That the management is unenthusiastic about bringing the airline back on track is all the more obvious. May be the management like everyone else have accepted the fact that Air India is a dead elephant. However, it is not just the pilots’ strike that is an issue here. There are several layers to the problem that explains why even the pilots threatenedwith termination are still unwilling to come back to work.
Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has claimed that 75% of the operations are normal. It beats the logic as to how, with only six Boeing-777 flying out of the 20 in their fleet, this can be achieved.
Even AI Express that has come up with a backup plan by which it has cancelled its domestic operations is under severe pressure now.
The AI management clearly knows that its advertisement on the website for new pilots is such that very few except the existing bunch on strike become eligible to apply. Freshly recruited pilots will have to undergo type-rating training that will take two years and `50 lakhs to train each of the newly recruited pilots. “If all the instructors who are busy operating flights, and if 100 pilots are to be trained with the infrastructure we have today it will take 5-6 years. To train a commander from an experienced co-pilot takes 2 years normally. With no experienced co-pilots it will not be possible to have commander even in 10 years,” an Air India official highlighted.
AI and IA are two separate organisations with very different work cultures and work ethics. AI has a legacy of being the national carrier and the “Maharaja” of the international routes, with Mumbai as its operating hub. In fact, Air India, helped train, Singapore Airlines, which is the current market leader on international routes. However, with the changed scenario today, the national carrier is one of the worst examples of how to run an airline.
“Therefore, it is time that both —(unions and management) appreciate that they are in a joint venture and they have mutual benefits by working together,” said R Pushpavanam, an ex-director ofPersonnel at Indian Airlines.

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