The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and the Air India management are set to sign an agreement that will result in increased utilisation of aircraft, reduction in their time off at base stations and accelerated training programme in view of the shortage of commanders and co-pilots.
For the first time, the Air India board of directors deliberated the draft proposals on Friday and suggested some minor modifications before signing the agreement, airline sources said yesterday.
AI managing director M P Mascarenhas said the airline had reached an informal understanding with the IPG and certain changes would be discussed with the IPG shortly.
Mascarenhas described the draft agreement as path breaking, as the management has been able to get some major concessions which would boost their revenues.
IPG president V M Mayadev described it as an equitable agreement which was good for the pilots also. This would help the airline to absorb expansion plans without difficulty and increase productivity, he added.
The shortfall payments, which generated a major controversy when introduced in the 1994 agreement, has not been done away with but has been diluted to a large extent, sources said.
As per the 1994 agreement, the shortfall equation was in the event of a senior pilot flying less than a junior pilot, the senior pilot would get his payment at his rate for the number of hours the junior pilot has flown.
The IPG has decided to take shortfall payments every six months, instead of every month and no junior would earn more than his senior, sources said, adding that it sought compensation of Rs 36,000 (for co-pilots) and Rs 50,000 per month (for commanders) for the concessions given to the management as per the new agreement.
The airline, which has been facing severe financial constraints and has even been raising loans to meet its working capital requirements, has offered to pay 50 per cent cash and the rest in form of financial instruments of any kind, including a stake in the company as it has been declared a mini ratna, the sources said.
The IPG has agreed to reduce their time off at base station from six days to three days after returning from a long haul flights to half accelerate training programme.
Based on this, the management has been able to get 15 sets of crew (pilot and co-pilot) to generate additional flying of 750 hours and generate a revenue of Rs 400 crore per annum.
This has enabled the management to introduce its own aircraft in lieu of the two leased airbus aircraft of Air Club of Canada from January 1 following the expiry of the lease agreement. According to sources, there is a shortage of 19 commanders and 24 co-pilots, and during the last two years, at least on three occasions, training had to be stopped due to shortage of instructors, who were rostered for flights.
Even when the two additional 747-400 were acquired, their utilisation was low due to non-availability of commanders.
The agreement would not affect seniority and a major hitch on training of co-pilots removed. For instance, co-pilots on basic aircraft like the Airbus A300 and A310 can move directly to the Boeing 747-400 by-passing the previous requirement to convert first to Boeing 747-200 and 747-300 and then to 747-400.
The agreement would also pave way for the induction of new aircraft without any hitch. Experience showed that AI had to pay a heavy price whenever any new type of aircraft was introduced, specially to pilots and engineers and later to all category of employees.
According to sources there would be hassle free introduction of the medium capacity long range aircraft, which has once again been revived., with the board asking the management to carry out the feasibility studies by including the Airbus A340-200 along with the A 340-100 and Boeing 777.
The IPG has also agreed for rationalisation in the hotel and transport arrangements in India and abroad, multiple standby system for pilots under which they would be on standby for multiple flights instead of only one flight as at present.
There has also been a major hike in the insurance claim in case of loss of licence for the pilots under the new agreement, the sources said, adding the increase in compensation would be Rs 22 lakh (for pilots below 55 years) and Rs 16.5 lakh (for pilots between 55 and 58 age group), respectively.
The negotiations with the IPG began in November, 1995, shortly after the September, 1994, agreement was rescinded by the management.
