Kochi: The much-hyped shifting of Air India Express (AIE) headquarters to Kochi remains incomplete though the low-budget wing of the national carrier seems to have achieved significant improvement in schedule integrity since January. The AIE headquarters was officially shifted here from Mumbai on January 1 but much needs to be done to complete the redeployment of the staff and finding a space for it.
Aviation sources said for all practical purposes, the administrative headquarters continues to be in Mumbai and the operational control in Delhi, where the integrated operational control centre of Air India is located.
Around 100 employees were to be posted at the new AIE headquarters in Kochi but only around 40 had been posted. The AIE had put up advertisements for applicants internally but the process is getting prolonged because of lack of enthusiasm from the existing staff to move to Kochi.The decision to post a separate CEO for AIE is also yet to be enforced.
25/03/13 T Ramavarman/Times of India
