Air India not to be privatised

National carrier Air India will not be privatised, top government sources have said, adding that the focus is on getting the airline’s pilots on board with the management and strengthening of the human resource policy of the airline. With the vocal ICPA pilot union - comprising pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines who mostly fly narrow-bodied aircraft - inking a wage agreement with the airline management on Friday morning, sources said the management was aiming to ensure that pilot unrest would be a thing of the past. Air India is expected to ask for more than Rs 4,000 crore from the government for the financial year 2016-17. The airline, which is already going to hire more pilots and expand its fleet by acquiring aircraft on lease, is also aiming to hire 1,000 more cabin crew. The airline is also considering innovative strategies to maximise revenue on certain routes by scrapping the luxurious first-class segment on some long-range overseas flights, while increasing the economy class seats accordingly. The Business class segment on these particular routes will remain.

“Air India will not be privatised. The focus is on tackling the internal problems of the airline including improving the on-time performance of flights, making the management dynamic and responsive, ensuring both employee and customer satisfaction and making sure that there is no corruption,” top sources said, while spelling out the roadmap for the airline’s future.

The loss-making airline is implementing the government’s turnaround plan while the government, which owns the airline completely, is funding the airline.

“There is no move to privatise Air India. It will remain a national carrier. It is being run professionally like any other company,” sources said.

A big breakthrough in ties between the management and a section of pilots was achieved earlier on Friday when pilot union ICPA inked an agreement with the airline. “The unions are not the problem. The management has to be responsive to the needs of the employees, including pilots. Winning the goodwill of the pilots and redressal of their grievances are crucial to the performance of the airline since no airline can run properly without the cooperation of its pilots,” sources said. Sources added that talks were also on with pilots flying wide-bodied aircraft to ensure that an amicable agreement is worked out with them too.

Visibly relieved Air India pilots expressed optimism that Air India would achieve a financial turnaround under its chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani, who assumed the reigns at Air India on August 31 last year.

In a significant message to employees soon after assuming office over four months ago, Mr Lohani had said the national carrier is going through a “grave crisis” and had emphasised that this is “not the time to seek and serve petty personal interests”. In that communication, Mr Lohani had also listed his priorities, saying air-safety was paramount and that there would be no compromise on this. He had also said the airline should guarantee at least 90 percent On Time Performance of flights to begin with. The new CMD had also exhorted the employees to enhance the passenger experience of flying by the airline through factors such as courteous behaviour and cleanliness of the aircraft cabin. Mr Lohani, a 1980 batch Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers officer, was appointed as CMD of Air India Ltd for a tenure of three years last August.