Air India chalks out new austerity measures to save Rs 1,000 cr a year

New Delhi: The newly-appointed chairman and managing director of Air India Arvind Jadhav has initiated a slew of austerity measures aimed at
saving Rs 1,000 crore per year, as he looks to improve the finances of India’s national carrier that currently accounts for almost half of the Rs 10,000-crore losses that the Indian aviation sector collectively incurs.
According to a person familiar with the matter, an Air India board meeting on Wednesday cleared a long-pending proposal to offer voluntary retirement scheme and voluntary leave schemes. The airline also issued a circular to its 31,000-odd employees asking them to avoid business class from their flying entitlements. It has also decided to go strict on upgradation of class — from economy to business or first. The company has also extended a long leave-without-pay scheme to a maximum of five years.
National Aviation Company of India (NACIL), the entity created by merging Air India and India Airlines, is estimated to have lost about Rs 4,000 crore in the last fiscal. “The CMD has given a very clear signal. He has asked to save on wherever we can and also improve the performance wherever we can,” said the person familiar with the development.
An airline official, on conditions of anonymity, said that the company has decided to shut down its Jeevan Bharti building office in Delhi’s prime business district Connaught Place to save cost. “We have already closed 14-15 such offices across the country,” he said.
23/05/09 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: NACIL May 2009