I don’t have to run rudderless: AI chief

New Delhi: Nearly halfway into his three-year term at the helm of loss-making state carrier Air India, Arvind Jadhav finally received the government’s nod for implementing the trickiest part of the company’s turnaround plan — pruning wages.
The task is now “cut out” for him to begin negotiations with 14 unions for paring the annual salary bill of National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil) or Air India. Wages are as high as 17 per cent of the company’s total operating costs.
“Now, I don’t have to run rudderless. A clear roadmap is available to me. Objectives have to be set by me,” said Jadhav in his first interview to The Indian Express after the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a Rs 1,200 crore bailout and wage cut proposal.
Wisened from a previous attempt to cut wages that backfired in 2009, Jadhav said that the carrier will submit financial implications of wage rationalisation to the government soon. “What we basically want to do is to keep the government at the highest level in the picture, so that if something happens, everybody is on the same side of the story,” he said.
05/01/11 Smita Aggarwal/Indian Express

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Categories: Air India Jan 2011