Air India CMD

Vikram Dev Dutt on Friday took charge as the chairman and managing director (CMD) of Air India, which will be handed over to the Tata group this year. The government had on October 8 last year announced that the Tata Group has won the bid to acquire Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. In a press release, Air India said Dutt took over the charge of the airline on Friday from Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Bansal, who was at the helm of Air India till now. Dutt is a 1993-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territory) cadre. Air India said Dutt has been appointed the airline's CMD in the rank and pay of additional secretary.

For the senior management, the pay cut is between 1.5% to 2%, while it is 30% for the pilots

Amid continuing uncertainty over the fate of the national carrier, the official said there is also need for funds to restart operations of 12 grounded narrow-body planes

Currently, Kharola is the Managing Director of Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation