The government has finally come up with a plan to save the ailing national carrier, but as ‘On a wing and a prayer’ (August 10) points out, the cure could be worse than the ailment. Low-cost is today’s magic mantra, but how does Air India become low cost? Merely calling it a low cost airline will not make it low cost. The airline’s pilots, cabin crew and technical staff will have to take substantial salary cuts and agree to much higher base-productivity levels. It is an open question as to whether they will do so. If they had to, the airline would not have been in this shape today. So it is by no means certain Air India will be able to turn around.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation must ask the airline’s management for proof of its intentions. One way to do so it to compare Air India’s costs with those of low cost airlines and ask the management how it plans to match this. If this exercise is not done, it will be another waste of taxpayers’ money.
Ajay Jha, Noida
