Civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi today assured that all issues raised by Air India (AI) unions like delay in salaries, wage rationalisation and human resource integration, will be considered. However, he ruled out any possibility of stake sale at the state-owned carrier.
The minister, who was on a two-day visit to Mumbai to take stock of the situation, met 14 unions today. He said the headquarters of Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary of AI, will be shifted to Kochi. However, a Shiv Sena-backed union opposed the move saying locals will lose jobs.
“There are various opinions between AI unions and employees. We will address and resolve issues but it will take a while,” Ravi said.
Ravi had earlier met finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and asked for a one-time equity infusion in the airline. The minister had claimed that around 65 per cent of AI’s turnaround plan had already been implemented.
As part of the makeover, AI appointed S Chandrakumar as the chief operating officer of Air India Express two days back. Pawan Arora, hired from low-cost carrier IndiGo at an annual package of Rs 1.2 crore, was asked to leave last week. It is learnt that the minister may reconsider the expensive recruitments of AI Chief Operating Officer Gustav Baldauf and Head of Training Stefan Sukumar.
Ravi is meeting the independent directors of AI in Delhi next week. Five independent directors, including Anand Mahindra, vice-chairman and managing director Mahindra & Mahindra Group, Harsh Neotia, chairman, Ambuja Realty, were appointed last year to help in the turnaround of the carrier.
Earlier, Indian Commercial Pilots Association had threatened to go on a flash strike as their January salaries were deferred to February 14.
