THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The sagging fortunes of national carrier Air India can be checked only by cancelling the merger with Indian Airlines as well as all bilateral operational deals, according to George Abraham, general secretary of Aviation Industry Employees Guild, the carrier’s largest union. “Over many decades, the airline had been exploited by unscrupulous ministers and Civil Aviation bigwigs. Ordering over 100 aircraft when loses were mounting and there was no money to pay salaries to employees was the best example of this high-handed behaviour,” George told Express while on a visit to the state. “For some ministers, Air India and Indian Airlines were mere playthings,” said George, who had recently dashed a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on non-payment of salaries to employees which was promptly rectified. George felt that mere replacement of those manning top positions without any change in the style of functioning would not help in lifting the morale of the workforce of the airlines and its clientele. George, who heads the largest AI union representing 11,000 employees, alleged that employees were not being taken into confidence by the management and increasingly sidelined while taking important decisions. The new CMD, a joint secretary of the Civil Aviation Ministry, is yet to take charge at the AI headquarters in Mumbai, he said. A regular attendee of ICAO and ILO conferences, George recently made a presentation at Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on how Air India could be saved from the current mess. However, the sterling performance of Air India Express based in Kochi and introducing inter-city air service in Kerala by the end of this month is a positive sign, he said. He said that because 63 per cent of Air India’s revenue came from Kerala, it was necessary to prevent the surrender of India skies to Gulf carriers. Emirates have 13 points of operation from India whereas it has only a handful from their airports, he said. He felt that the AI-IA merger has become a burden on the new company. AI is reeling under a massive cumulative loss and debt burden of Rs 67,000 crore. The national carrier has to repay loans worth Rs 20,415 crore before the end of this fiscal year. The continuance of two sets of service conditions had forced employees to go on strike. Now 20 per cent of staff gets 80 per cent of the total wage bill, said George, who had also served as member of the Mumbai Municipal Council representing Kalina Vakola. George also came down heavily on the acquisition of aircraft in a reckless fashion. The initial proposal was for 24 aircraft for AI and 43 for IA but the final purchase order was for 118 aircraft for the new entity NACIL. Currently, AI has an operational fleet of 135 aircraft. The first of the 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be delivered in December this year. AI has a staff ratio of 230 employees for every aircraft whereas the industry average is 100 per aircraft.
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