The operational integration of Air-India (A-I) and Indian Airlines (IA), aimed at the emergence of a single national carrier, appears to have gained tremendous momentum. The surplus employees of one carrier would now work for the other.
For instance, the airport security operations at Delhi is being handled by IA while in Mumbai it is handled by A-I. The excess Air-India employees in Delhi have been deployed to offer their services to IA.
The financial implications, in terms of salary and allowances, would be adjusted between the two airlines based on an internal agreement between the two companies, a senior A-I executive told Business Standard.
While an integrated frequency scheduling programme is set to take off from April 2004, free interlining between two airlines has been rolled out wherein a passenger holding an A-I ticket can fly Indian Airlines.
To start with, the process has been rolled out in 3 sectors including Delhi-Bangkok, Delhi-Singapore and Chennai-Singapore. Free endorsability in the Gulf sectors including Delhi-Muscat, Kochin Muscat, Calicut-Dubai and Kochin-Dubai routes have been approved.
