No salary: How netas and babus bled AI
JRD
Tata must be turning in his grave. He would have never imagined that the
airline he started with so much care and personal attention would come to such
a pass that it would not be able to pay employees salaries on time. But that’s
how it is and this time round the staff of Air India will not get their salary
on June 30. They will have to wait 15 days till July 15 to receive their
pay packet.
The tribe of babus and netas is squarely responsible for bringing Air India to this state. Air India, which is now Indian Airlines and the old-time Air India together, is making a daily loss of Rs 11 crore. What’s worse, there is no hope on the horizon — the aviation company would continue to bleed. The aviation minister says an infusion of $3 billion may be required to put the airline on keel. But the question is: Where is the money in these times of slowdown? Moreover, with a bloated staff strength of over 30,000, which airlines can run profitably? The company’s annual losses in the last fiscal (2008-09) stood at Rs 4,000 crore, up from Rs 2,226 crore in the year before.
For decades the babu-neta combine has treated India’s national carrier as a milch cow that would pamper their personal whims. This is even as politics and bureaucratic delays have characterized decision making in Air India. For a decade and a half, the management of the airline could not decide what plane to buy to modernize and augment its fleet. As Boeing and Airbus lobbied and counter-lobbied, files went to and forth but no decision could be taken. Meanwhile. the losses of the airline mounted. In the mid-nineties, Air India made a loss of roughly a little over Rs 300 crore annually — that is Rs 1 crore per day. It may not be out of place to point out that the IAS lobby has fully captured Air India and Indian Airlines for the last 20 years with the chairman and managing director of the two airlines coming from this service.
After many years Air India, a merged identity that includes Indian Airlines in its fold, placed an order for 111 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. These planes will be delivered by 2012. The point is that this decision could have been taken at least a decade earlier. The cost would have been much less and the national carrier would have gained from the induction of the planes.
This gentleman was not alone. I also remember a Union cabinet minister of aviation. Before being aviation minister he used to stay at his own house in his hometown. But when he became the aviation czar he started staying in a five star hotel. The tab was, needless to add, picked up by the national carrier.
The tribe of babus and netas is squarely responsible for bringing Air India to this state. Air India, which is now Indian Airlines and the old-time Air India together, is making a daily loss of Rs 11 crore. What’s worse, there is no hope on the horizon — the aviation company would continue to bleed. The aviation minister says an infusion of $3 billion may be required to put the airline on keel. But the question is: Where is the money in these times of slowdown? Moreover, with a bloated staff strength of over 30,000, which airlines can run profitably? The company’s annual losses in the last fiscal (2008-09) stood at Rs 4,000 crore, up from Rs 2,226 crore in the year before.
For decades the babu-neta combine has treated India’s national carrier as a milch cow that would pamper their personal whims. This is even as politics and bureaucratic delays have characterized decision making in Air India. For a decade and a half, the management of the airline could not decide what plane to buy to modernize and augment its fleet. As Boeing and Airbus lobbied and counter-lobbied, files went to and forth but no decision could be taken. Meanwhile. the losses of the airline mounted. In the mid-nineties, Air India made a loss of roughly a little over Rs 300 crore annually — that is Rs 1 crore per day. It may not be out of place to point out that the IAS lobby has fully captured Air India and Indian Airlines for the last 20 years with the chairman and managing director of the two airlines coming from this service.
After many years Air India, a merged identity that includes Indian Airlines in its fold, placed an order for 111 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. These planes will be delivered by 2012. The point is that this decision could have been taken at least a decade earlier. The cost would have been much less and the national carrier would have gained from the induction of the planes.
This gentleman was not alone. I also remember a Union cabinet minister of aviation. Before being aviation minister he used to stay at his own house in his hometown. But when he became the aviation czar he started staying in a five star hotel. The tab was, needless to add, picked up by the national carrier.
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