New Delhi: The Air India strike may be over but one can't say the same for its financial troubles. Details emerging of its expenses show that the national carrier has made some terrible financial decisions.
When Air-India sent 66 senior pilots for additional training to the United Kingdom, it was a move to improve that no one questioned.
The first batch of 10 pilots was sent to UK's Storm Aviation Flight Academy. Then Air-India pulled out of the contract saying the costs were too high, a move that cost the airlines Rs 2.5 crore out-of-court settlement.
Subhash Chandra, RTI petitioner said, “After I filed this RTI application, I got a message from an insider asking me to file additional RTIs asking about CARIBJET.'' In 1995, Air-India had leased three passenger aircrafts from CARIBJET in a three-year contract.
Within months, the planes developed serious snags. Their autopilots failed, engines shut down and even gears acted up, mid-air.
Some documents on Air-India with NDTV show it was safety concerns that finally resulted in the contract being cancelled. However, despite having the upper hand Air India ended up paying Rs 130 crore to exit the contract. Last December, an RTI had found that Air-India gave nearly 400 free tickets to four senior members over a period of time.
01/10/09 Siddharth Pandey and Miloni Bhatt/NDTV.com
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