NEW DELHI: In a bid to stem its worrying exodus of pilots, Air India has decided that only one person -- airline chairman Ashwani Lohani -- will have the power to accept resignations and decide on requests for voluntary retirement. The airline is also seeking legal opinion on having a "much longer" notice period for pilots than the six-month period prescribed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The cash-strapped PSU has simultaneously begun the process to extend its retirement age from 58 to 60, to achieve two objectives -- retain talent for two more years and save on the financial outgo on retirees. AI and its two subsidiaries, engineering and ground handling, have over 30,000 employees. "The move to extend retirement age is being taken up by the airline board," said an official.
The DGCA has prescribed a six-month notice period to ensure that an airline's schedule does not go haywire -- and hence travelling public inconvenienced -- with pilots suddenly quitting. But the type of exodus AI is witnessing, it is facing a serious shortage on planes like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The airline has been trying -- unsuccessfully, so far -- to stop the exodus of its trained employees, especially the pilots, who are being poached very aggressively by both Indian and foreign airlines. Last week, as reported by TOI it sacked three pilots who wanted to resign before completing their five-year contract and also asked the DGCA to suspend their flying licences. It is also planning to make pilots sign up a heftier bond amount which they will have to pay in case they quit before serving a certain minimum period during which the airline recovers its cost of training incurred on them. While the current bond amount is Rs 10 lakh, AI wants to raise it to Rs 50 lakh or a crore.
14/12/15 Saurabh Sinha/The Times Of India
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The cash-strapped PSU has simultaneously begun the process to extend its retirement age from 58 to 60, to achieve two objectives -- retain talent for two more years and save on the financial outgo on retirees. AI and its two subsidiaries, engineering and ground handling, have over 30,000 employees. "The move to extend retirement age is being taken up by the airline board," said an official.
The DGCA has prescribed a six-month notice period to ensure that an airline's schedule does not go haywire -- and hence travelling public inconvenienced -- with pilots suddenly quitting. But the type of exodus AI is witnessing, it is facing a serious shortage on planes like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The airline has been trying -- unsuccessfully, so far -- to stop the exodus of its trained employees, especially the pilots, who are being poached very aggressively by both Indian and foreign airlines. Last week, as reported by TOI it sacked three pilots who wanted to resign before completing their five-year contract and also asked the DGCA to suspend their flying licences. It is also planning to make pilots sign up a heftier bond amount which they will have to pay in case they quit before serving a certain minimum period during which the airline recovers its cost of training incurred on them. While the current bond amount is Rs 10 lakh, AI wants to raise it to Rs 50 lakh or a crore.
14/12/15 Saurabh Sinha/The Times Of India
