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circleglobe · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 709

The DEL-JFK-YYZ suggestion is a total nonstarter. Indian nationals (now even landed immigrants to Canada) would need US visas, and there would be immigration screening by US authorities. There are many complaints about transiting in Europe, but the US is far worse.

More generally, if the existing nonstops to JFK cannot make money, how can they expect to add more? There are issues specific to AI like reputation, customer base, and lack of FFP and alliance relationships, but there are also the cost of operating long flights that any airline would bear. Delta decided not to re-enter the NYC-India nonstop market. The fares may be just too low and premium demand not high enough to be worth it for them.

In the Nairobi thread comments suggest that if AI cannot make money on a given route then they should drop it. The same logic could apply to 'prestige' US routes as to others.

karatecatman · Guest

747-237 · Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 7:08 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

karatecatman · Guest

Air India posts loss of Rs 5,548 cr for FY'09
STAFF WRITER

New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) Burdened by high fuel and labour costs, Air India suffered a loss of Rs 5,548 crore in 2008-09, and its total revenue declined by around Rs 2,000 crore compared to that in the previous fiscal.

The losses came down from Rs 7,200 crore the airline suffered in 2007-08 to Rs 5,548.26 crore in 2008-09. Total revenue fell to Rs 13,479 crore in FY'09 from Rs 15,252 crore during the previous fiscal.

The Air India board, which met in Chennai today, approved the annual accounts for the last fiscal, with the losses and fall in revenue resulting out of the global financial meltdown, low passenger load factors and falling yields.

The airline is facing a strike threat by pilots from November 24 after it proposed to slash incentives and allowances for them and other sections of employees as part of the cost-cutting measures.

***

http://profit.ndtv.com/2009/11/11161859/Air-India-losses-at-Rs-5500-c.html
Air India's losses at Rs 5,500 crore in FY09
NDTV Correspondent and Agencies
November 11, 2009
(New Delhi)

State carrier Air India on Wednesday said that it has incurred a loss of Rs 5,550 crore in the fiscal year 2008-09. The Air India board, which met in Chennai, said the losses were primarily due to global economic slowdown, resulting in fewer passengers travelling and lower load factor.

The loss comes in the wake of IATA forecast which had predicted that the losses in the aviation industry for the year 2008 would be around $16.8 billion, followed by a loss of $11 billion for the year 2009, due to weak revenue environment and increase in operating costs.

In line with the market trend, Air India’s total revenue has declined from Rs 15,252 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 13,479 crore in 2008-09. Its passenger load factor declined from 63.8 per cent in 2007-08 to 59.5 per cent in 2008-09 and the number of passengers travelling on Air India flights declined from 13.21 million in 2007-08 to 10.36 million in 2008-09.

Other major factors that have contributed to Air India’s losses are steep hike in aviation turbine fuel (ATF), rise in depreciation costs due to induction of new fleet and interest rates on aircraft loans and borrowings.

Air India has been spending around 10 per cent of the airline's total salary bill to pay its team of over 160 foreign pilots and hiring firms.

As revealed by the airline in response to an Right To Information application, NACIL paid Rs 93.29 crore towards salaries and expenses to the agencies which provided expatriate pilots to Air India and Air India Express last fiscal.

Of this, Air India paid Rs 46.63 crore ($93,27,644.23) while its budget arm Air India Express spent Rs 46.66 crore ($93,33,732.11) on the expat pilots during the same period.

"In addition, the company spends up to Rs 7,500 per day to accomodate foreign pilots in expensive hotels and provide chauffeur-driven air conditioned cars to them for non-flying duties as well," a Indian Pilots Guild spokesperson said.

There are 163 expatriate pilots in Air India, besides 1,253 Indian pilots and about 200 trainees.

avbuff · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 5031

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Once AI joins SA, their network planning will be alot more organised. The focus should be on major SA dest like FRA, EWR, ORD, PEK, LAX/SFO, SIN/BKK and may be Johannesburg. What AI doesnot do in it's intl dest is provide adequate connections both from/to origin/dest.
They need to apply themselves more. If they have more than 1 daily flight to a dest and only 1 of the flights have proper O&D, then connections should be focused on the other flight.
I still believe that FRA as a hub was a massive mistake. As it has been already pointed out by many other members that FRA is crowded and flithy (still much better than DEL T-2!), AI's timings co-incide with LH's timings. So they compete with LH on DEL/BOM-FRA and also on FRA-ORD/EWR and inturn expect codeshares on other european and american dest on LH!! MUC would have been a much better hub...

circleglobe · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 709

karatecatman · Guest

TIMES OF INDIA
AI scraps performance incentives
Saurabh Sinha
TNN
12 November 2009

NEW DELHI: Air India on Wednesday decided to drastically cut the salaries of its top management — functional and executive directors. The
performance-linked incentive (PLI) component of their pay, which accounts for 60% to 80% of the total package, has been completely scrapped for those on board on deputation from the government. The 36 AI-IA directors used to get anywhere between Rs 55,000 and Rs 5.2 lakh as PLI every month.

Airline employees who have made it to the board after years of service will face a huge cut in PLI as this has now been brought within department of public enterprise guidelines under which PLI can't be more than half of the salary. For instance, the ED (operations) has a basic salary of Rs 73,240 with a monthly PLI of Rs 521,425.

Similarly, ED (engineering) has a salary of Rs 76,169 and a monthly PLI of Rs 162,529. Now following Wednesday's board decision — taken amid stiff opposition from directors, PLIs can't be more than half the salary which would mean a knock of almost Rs 4.9 lakh and Rs 1.2 lakh per month for the EDs operation and engineering. The non-technical board members used to get a PLI of under a lakh which would also get slashed.

"Government nominees on board who are ex-officio there don't get any PLI. IAS and IPS officers sent on deputation there like director (vigilance) will henceforth not get any PLI at all. If the CMD happens to be an IAS or IPS posted there, he or she will also not get any PLI," said a top board member.

This move has left directors fuming. "We'll now get less than many of our juniors. Our take-home was under a lakh after deductions and now it will be almost half that amount. The airline could not touch pilots' PLIs as they can ground the airline with a strike," said an angry board member. Another board member said: "The airline's morale has never been lower. People right from top to bottom now wonder if this is being done deliberately to cover up for ministry's mistakes like merger and huge aircraft orders for which we are being made scapegoats," the member said.

Importantly, the move has come just a day before Pranab Mukherjee-headed Group of Ministers (GoM) meets to decide on the issue of funding AI. The ministry is seeking Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 9,000 crore as equity infusion and aircraft purchase assistance from the government over next three years. But the GoM told AI clearly that it had to make progress on wage cut front to get any money.

***

BOM-JFK may be pruned or slashed totally.

karatecatman · Guest

TIMES OF INDIA
Services of Air India casual workers could get regularised
TNN
12 November 2009

CHENNAI: Air India is reeling under a post-tax loss of Rs 5,548.26 crore but representatives of the 500-odd casual workers employed by the airline appeared happy after its chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav gave them an assurance that their demand for regularising the service of casual labourers might be considered.

The casual workers employed by the airline as catering assistants, baggage handlers, drivers of airline buses inside the airport, security scanning and other jobs for the last 25 years have been demanding that the management regularise their services.

A couple of labourers, who had formed the Indian Airlines Pattali Union, met Jadhav on Wednesday as he emerged from a board meeting and handed him a petition seeking redressal for their grievances. "The chairman has promised that a decision will be taken on the issue in two months. We are happy that we were able to meet him and present our demand," said K Arumugam, vice-president of the union.

All the labourers are in the 42-52 age group and are dependent on Air India for their livelihood. "The airline gives us work for only 90 days at a stretch and pays Rs 190 per day. The rest of the days we remain idle. We are not able to go for other work because we keep hoping that the management will regularise our services," said R Krishnan, a handler of aircraft crew baggage.

Arumugam said the airline had refused to regularise the workers despite repeated requests. Air India has vaccancies for commercial helpers in the southern region. "We received a Madras high court order in 2002 urging the management to regularise our services. We also met the management in 2007, but they have not acted in our favour yet."

Workers now fear that Air India could privatise ground handling operations. "Air India plans to hire contractors to do ground handling work. If that happens we will lose our jobs," said Arumugam.

karatecatman · Guest

Update
Booz Allen Hamilton to now advise Air India on cost-cutting and turnaround as the management's efforts to slash is causing fury.

karatecatman · Guest

http://profit.ndtv.com/2009/11/12191024/Govt-plans-to-infuse-equity-in.html
Govt plans to infuse equity into Air India by March
Press Trust of India
November 12, 2009 (New Delhi)
The government would infuse additional equity into ailing Air India provided it saves at least Rs 2,000 crore this financial year by implementing cost-cutting measures, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said on Thursday.

"We are broadly looking at equity infusion linked to its monthly performance parameters and we are only looking at till March (2010). This is not the total equity infusion being looked at for Air India," he said after an almost two-hour meeting of a Group of Ministers on the issue.

Based on the national carrier's performance till the end of the financial year, the government would be "able to finally take a call at the end of March as to what will be the final support which the government will provide," he said.

Replying to a question, Patel said Air India "will have to provide a revenue enhancement and a cost-cutting programme to the extent of at least Rs 2,000 crore by March which will be giving a direction on the way forward." The airline, which has shown a net loss of Rs 5,548.26 crore in 2008-09, is seeking a total equity infusion of Rs 5,000 crore.

The GoM, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was given a presentation on the cash-strapped carrier's plans to reduce costs and enhance savings by CMD Arvind Jadhav and Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar. The meeting was also attended by Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, Home Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

***

Air India pays out a month's PLI, keeps two pending - pilots bristle
12 November 2009

New Delhi: With a strike threat from the pilots union looming over its head, Air India management paid out a month's incentives and allowances to its 30,000 employees yesterday but has maintained arrears of two months. The pilots Guild has warned it will strike work from 24 November if their demands are not met by 20 November.

According to pilot representatives, they had received their PLI/flying allowance, but only for the month of August. The payment for September and October has been kept pending.

While the original strike notice given by the non-executive pilots comes into effect from today, the management has been asked by the Central Labour Commissioner to decide on the demands by 20 November in a bid to avoid strike action.

Early in the month, the cash-strapped carrier received Rs500 crore as working capital from a consortium of banks. The loan was secured by the carrier to meet salary payments by 10 November and avert strike action, as announced by the pilots Guild.

***

Air India to get Rs. 800 cr by December.

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

karatecatman · Guest

Port-of-SPAIN -
Indian High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago Malay Mishra has announced that state-owned Caribbean Airlines and Air India are working on a project to reduce air fares between the two countries.

He told a meeting that when the programme become operational “an airline ticket purchased in Trinidad and Tobago will connect a Caribbean Airlines flight with Air India in New York.”

Travel for trade, cultural and religious reasons between both countries continues to escalate, but there could be a higher number of visits if the air fares are reduced.

In June, India Tourism and Air India officials based in New York met several travel agents and discussed ways to boost tourism from Trinidad and Tobago to India.

People of Indian origin constitute nearly 40 percent of the 1.3 million population of Trinidad and Tobago. Their ancestors came here from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar between 1845 and 1917 to work on sugar plantations.

tayaramecanici · Member Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Posts: 648

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

It's good to see that AI are doing something to boost their JFK nonstops. They should now look at getting code-shares to destinations like Raleigh, ATL, DFW, MCO, etc.
Me111993

karatecatman · Guest

karatecatman · Guest

TIMES OF INDIA
Air India CMD trying to provoke pilots' strike: ICPA
PTI
15 November 2009

NEW DELHI: A major pilots' association has charged Air India chief Arvind Jadhav with trying to provoke a strike and on that pretext declare a
lockout which could make several wage agreements lapse.

Responding to an interview of Jadhav and a report on the national carrier in a leading journal, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) quoted the airline CMD as saying that the turnaround strategy was like a "chess game" and that a lockout would have "broken the back of the unions had it lasted 15 days" and all existing wage agreements would have lapsed.

In a letter to the CMD, ICPA President Capt Shailendra Singh asked, "... does this mean that you have planned to create conditions for strike and that it should continue for 15 days?"

He alleged that the five-day stir by senior pilots in September "seems to be a clear example of the above where conditions were created by you to push the agitation every hour causing a loss of Rs 100 crore".

Singh further said, "It seems you are not satisfied with this and have planned for another strike. Please note that the airline is a national property and anybody working against the interest is called a traitor."

He said such motives "will not be tolerated and allowed to succeed."

PMO seems to be slowly backing the CMD on tackling the unions.

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

behramjee · Posted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:55 am Post subject:

I can guarantee you that CO's EWR BOM nonstop flight is one of its bigger loss making long haul flights!
_________________
My website is:
http://airline-news.blogspot.com

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

circleglobe · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 709

circleglobe · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 709

Nonstops of such long durations are very expensive to operate, whether for CO or AI or whoever. Though relatively speaking CO must be doing better than AI.

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

karatecatman · Guest

EXPRESS BUZZ
AI offer to Ayyappa devotees

Express News Service
17 Nov 2009

HYDERABAD: Air India (AI) is offering attractive fares on its Hyderabad-Kochi-Coimbatore-Hyderabad route specifically for the Ayappa devotees from Andhra Pradesh.

The national carrier has daily direct flights from Hyderabad to Kochi and passengers will now have the comfort of AI’s brand new Airbus A-319 and the state-of-the-art wide-bodied Boeing-777. The flights operate at a convenient time to facilitate easy travel options for passengers.

Spiderguy252 · Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:02 pm Post subject:

karatecatman · Guest

karatecatman · Guest

EXPRESS BUZZ
Soon, Srinagar-Dubai flight to have Amritsar stopover
Bashaarat Masood
Nov 17, 2009

Srinagar : The Srinagar-Dubai direct flight that brought Srinagar on the world aviation map is set to be routed through Amritsar from 2010. The decision has reportedly been taken owing to a “poor response” to the direct flight.
“We have a plan to route the flight through Amritsar,” Air India Station Manager at Srinagar International Airport, Mohammad Iqbal told The Indian Express. “But I think a final decision in this regard has not been taken yet.”

The Air India booking site, however, mentions that the flight will be routed through Amritsar in Punjab. The direct flight from Srinagar to Dubai takes a little less than five hours while the flight via Amritsar will take 25 minutes more.

The first direct international flight, by Air India, from Srinagar to Dubai was flagged off by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on February 14 this year. The development had fuelled a hope of a tourist flow to the Valley from West Asia.

The airline, which runs the flight once a week, had said that it would increase the frequency of the flights if the response was good. Several private airliners, too, had sought permission from the Civil Aviation ministry to run direct international flights from the Srinagar international airport.

The flights will take the new route from January 1, 2010. “I have no knowledge about it (routing of flight through Amritsar),” said Director, Airport Authority in Srinagar, O S Tyagi. “But even if this is the case, it will not affect the international character of the flight. I am sure the same flight will proceed to Dubai from Amritsar.”

Tyagi said the airlines must have taken the decision to protect its commercial interests. “There is nothing wrong in it,” he said. “There are many flights taking off from different international airports like Mumbai and Delhi, which stop at other airports before moving on to their destinations. They even allow domestic passengers to board the flight”.

AirIndia0001 · Member Joined: 28 Sep 2007 Posts: 391

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

karatecatman · Guest

Clarification: The Mumbai-Hyderabad leg is on the 777 and the rest on the A319. But if there is sufficient traffic from Hyderabad terminating at Cochin, AI is planning to operate a direct 777 service on this stretch (skipping Coimbatore of course).

karatecatman · Guest

Thanks to source

NACIL invites application from eligible candidates for appointment to the post of Chief of Corporate Communications of NACIL and its subsidiaries.

The National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) is the National Carrier of India, operates under the Air India brand name and is in the business of air transportation of passengers and cargo within India and abroad. NACIL is headquartered in Mumbai, India, and has a gross turnover of approximately USD.4 billion.

The Chief of Corporate Communications will be based at Mumbai, be a part of the top management team and report to the Chairman & Managing Director. He/she would be responsible for overseeing the overall image building exercise of the Company, including inter alia managing media relations. The selected candidate would be appointed on contract for a period of 3 years, extendable by two years based on performance.

Applicants should be less than 45 years of age and have wide ranging experience and professional qualifications in the field of Mass Communication and/or other related disciplines, including knowledge of modern state of art communication technologies. He/she should be a proficient writer, highly motivated and result oriented, with proven leadership qualities and a part of the top management team of any public or private sector Company in India or abroad. Preference would be given to candidates who are already in the field of Corporate Communications.

The general roles and responsibilities of the selected candidate will include the following:

Formulation and implementation of the Corporate Public Relations Strategy;
Positioning and monitoring the airline in the media;
Managing Corporate Public Relations and image building;
Briefing top management on the Corporate and Business environment;
Managing external and internal communications;
Interacting with national and international organizations and agencies in the aviation industry;
Developing and maintaining the airline website;
Managing the archiving of records and digitization of Company periodicals and magazines;
Developing and maintain the photo library of the Company, including photographs/slides of historical importance and major events;
Producing audio visuals on the Company’s activities;
Arranging media tours for generating publicity for NACIL;

The compensation package will be based on the cost to the Company and will be negotiable, commensurate with qualifications, experience and other relevant factors.

Mumbai/New Delhi
November 18, 2009

They can hire all of us AI-nutters. Wink

karatecatman · Guest

LIVEMINT
Booz drafts Rs 5,000 cr savings plan for Air India
Air India, which had posted an accumulated loss of Rs7,774 crore till now, appointed Booz Allen in October to look at costs across the board and suggest ways to save

P.R. Sanjai Mumbai:

Consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. has suggested to National Aviation Co. of India Ltd, or Nacil, that runs national flag carrier Air India, at least 70 cost-cutting and revenue-enhancement measures that could generate up to Rs5,000 crore in next 18 months.Cost-conscious: Air India chief Arvind Jadhav is heading a steering committee to monitor the implementation of cost-cutting measures. Mint Air India posted a Rs5,548 crore loss in 2008-09 and is expecting another Rs5,000 crore loss in the current fiscal year.

The government, which owns the airline, has clarified that it will link further equity infusion in the ailing carrier to performance.
Air India, which had posted an accumulated loss of Rs7,774 crore till now, appointed Booz Allen in October to look at costs across the board and suggest ways to save. The first meeting of the consultant, which has worked extensively with airlines in other parts of the world, with the carrier’s board took place in New Delhi on Monday.

“At the meeting, we have identified at least 70 cost-cutting measures in the first phase out of a total 260 proposals. Booz Allen has mooted a three-year cost-cutting plan,” said a senior Air India official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not authorized to speak to media.
“The targeted savings for Air India through the cost savings and revenue enhancement measures is at least Rs5,000 crore in next 18 months. The whole idea is to improve the operating profit by looking at even smallest of measures,” he added.

Air India has asked the government for a loan and equity infusion of around Rs15,000 crore after the bleeding carrier’s borrowings increased to Rs15,241 crore at the end of June, up from Rs6,550 crore in November 2007. Its current equity stands at Rs145 crore.
Public relation agency 20:20 Media that represents the consulting firm in India said in an email that the firm would not be able to comment on the issue because of issues related to client confidentiality. Jitender Bhargava, executive director (corporate communications) at Nacil confirmed the Booz Allen meeting, but declined to divulge details.

“International companies do not like to share the details that they are working on. Broadly there are 70-80 proposals that Air India is currently working on to cut cost across the board,” Bhargava added.
Without elaborating, Bhargava said the carrier is looking at measures such as pruning of non-core activities, phasing out foreign pilots, trimming fleet network, route rationalisation, recalling officers posted abroad and closure of offices in cities to which the airline doesn’t fly.
A second Air India executive, who is familiar with the development but asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said the airline formed a high-powered steering committee on Monday to monitor the implementation of cost-cutting measures suggested by Booz Allen.
“The committee has been formed under Air India chief Arvind Jadhav. It will monitor the implementation on a weekly basis. We have already identified key executives who will be responsible in implementing these measures,” he added.

Going by Booz Allen’s three-year cost-cutting plan, the airline will be able to save at least Rs400 crore by March 2010, another Rs1,400 crore by March 2011 and yet another Rs2,300 crore by March 2012, he said. “The three-year cost-cutting plan will help Air India to save about Rs4,100 crore. Together with the revenue-enhancement measures, which will be executed immediately, cost cutting would yield Rs5,000 crore savings in next 18 months,” said this executive.
The first Air India executive quoted said the cost-saving programmes are broadly divided on the basis of optimum fleet utilization, network rationalization, IT initiatives, financial restructuring, human resources initiatives, and cargo and charter revenue-enhancement measures.
“The steering committee will have sufficient power to ensure a time-bound implementation of cost-cutting programmes,” he said.
Analysts and industry observers are not convinced about the efficacy of the measures. “I have not studied the Booz Allen plan, but I would say there is a limit to cost cutting. There will be reaction to this cost-cutting drive from a public sector undertaking,” said Sanat Kaul, India chapter chairman of International Foundation for Aviation and Development.
According to him, the basic issue is not cost cutting, but losing market share.

Kaul said the public perception is that Air India is no more a reliable airline. “You need to recapture the market share first and foremost.”
The airline’s domestic market share which was 16.6% in August rose to 17.5% in September and further to 18.6% in October.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Tuesday, Air India said a group of ministers has assured financial support to the carrier in the form of equity infusion and that the first instalment of Rs400 crore is expected by January 2010.
“Further instalments would be tied to the milestones of savings effected on account of cost cutting exercise adopted by the national carrier at various levels. Nacil is simultaneously taking effective measures to enhance revenue to the extent feasible in today’s market environment,” the statement said.

The statement also said that Air India, like other airlines worldwide, is expected to continue witnessing a strained cash flow due to a weak economic and revenue environment. “The yields continue to be low due to the excess capacity both in the domestic and international markets and consequent low pricing by all carriers.”
The carrier also said it is trying to address issues concerning the delayed payments of productivity linked payments (PLI) to employees. The cash-strapped airline had suggested a 50% cut in these payments to save save about Rs700 crore. Productivity linked payments currently account for 30% to 50% of the wages of employees at the airline. Air India has not paid this since August.
Its employees, including pilots, have opposed this move and threatened to halt work. “Efforts are being made to settle the PLI payment payable in October 2009 shortly, so that the PLI arrears are cleared till date and that future PLI payments are not in arrears for more than a month,” Air India said.

Buzz is that half of the Booz ideas are BS.

jasepl · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2008 Posts: 4257 Location: bund-bay

Jaysit · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 4346

karatecatman · Guest

LIVEMINT
Applications pour in for post of Air India COO
Apart from stemming losses, recasting Rs16,000 crore debt and trying to pay for much-needed planes to bolster an ageing fleet, the COO will need to fight with entrenched unions opposed to plans for cost-cutting
Tarun Shukla

New Delhi: Air India’s bloated debt and losses in excess of $1 billion (Rs4,630 crore) looming in the current fiscal year haven’t deterred at least 140 top global airline executives from throwing their hat into the ring

The beleaguered airline will likely have a new chief operating officer by January.

The airline had advertised in September in The Economist magazine and the Financial Times newspaper for a COO to work with chairman and managing director (CMD) Arvind Jadhav to implement a three-year turnaround plan.
“There are NRIs (non-resident Indians) from all over, expats and several others. We have to shortlist the candidates and call them for interviews,” said a senior government official familiar with the process who asked not to be named.

Apart from stemming losses, recasting Rs16,000 crore debt and trying to pay for much-needed planes to bolster an ageing fleet, the COO will need to fight with entrenched unions opposed to plans for cost-cutting. The loss expectation for this year matches the figure for last fiscal.
Several COOs and vice-presidents from European, American, Australian and Caribbean carriers are among those vying for the job, which includes completing the integration of domestic carrier Indian Airlines with Air India.

“It was a fairly good response,” said another official familiar with the process and who too didn’t want to be named. The names of prospective COOs cannot be disclosed because most are employed with various airlines and the process is still underway, the official said.
Air India, with more than 30,000 employees, had sought applications from candidates with a background in aviation or with a record of turning around an organization of at least 10,000 workers.
“We definitely need someone with an airline background. Otherwise, who knows what will happen here?” said another government official who also asked not to be named. The Air India board is aiming to have a new COO in place by January, he said.

The COO will be entitled to performance-linked pay based on targets and will be required to work closely with Booz and Co. and NM Rothschild and Sons Ltd that have been hired for cost-rationalization and debt-restructuring strategies, respectively, said the second official cited above.
Air India has a gross turnover of around $4 billion, with an equal amount of debt and an equity of Rs145 crore. It is expected to be granted a first tranche of equity infusion of Rs400 crore by January to tide over the current crisis that includes payments against an $11 billion aircraft order placed in 2005-06.

The new COO is likely to face a tough challenge from powerful unions.
“I wonder how many of these applicants are truly serious. The COO role is one of the hardest jobs at an airline because this person has to maintain a reliable, safe operation while also ‘serving’ the requirements of the commercial side of the business,” said Vikram Krishnan, associate partner at Oliver Wyman, a San Francisco-based aviation consultancy firm, in emailed comments. “I imagine someone in this role has to be competent enough to deal with the unions while also keeping costs low.”
State-run Air India has been facing stiff resistance from employees who are opposing cuts in salaries. Cost-cutting is a key condition of the government rescue package.

“It appears that all managerial skills are being utilized to enforce a salary cut rather than revenue generation through professional management,” said R.S. Otaal, general secretary of the 800-strong Indian Commercial Pilots Association, or ICPA, in a notice issued to the Air India management calling for a strike from 24 November.
ICPA members will march to Parliament on Thursday, when the winter session is scheduled to begin, demanding a probe into the airline’s mismanagement by the government and seeking parity in pay within the company. The equity infusion is to be debated in the House during the winter session before final clearance by the Union cabinet.
Performance-linked incentives of three dozen top Air India officials have already been put on hold till a final decision is made on them, as Mint reported last week.

For the Air India brass, it will be critical to manage worker unrest, Oliver Wyman’s Krishnan said.
“In other similar situations, I have seen employees take their frustration out on the customer, which leads to a perpetual cycle of mistrust between management/employees and underperformance,” he said. Change cannot come without firm state backing, he said. “It is impossible to undergo a transformation without upsetting someone or the other. However, it is critical that the CMD has a licence for radical change from the government.”

karatecatman · Guest

ZEE NEWS
AI employees stage protest march to Parliament
November 19, 2009

New Delhi: A section of Air India pilots, technicians and employees today marched to Parliament demanding immediate government action to save the cash- strapped national carrier.

The employees, holding Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav responsible for the present condition of the airline, also demanded his removal and regularisation of the payment of their due salary and productivity linked incentive.

"We do not want to go on strike, but the way we (the employees) were being held responsible for the present situation, our patience has ran out, so if we do not get any response from the management we will be forced to go on strike from November 24, as decided," Indian Commerical Pilots' Association (ICPA) President Captain Shailendra Singh said.

Giving an ultimatum to the management, the ICPA, Air Corporation Employees' Union (ACEU) and Indian Airlines Technician's Association (IATA) and Indian Airlines Officer's Association (IAOA) said if the employees do not get their due salary and PLI by November 24, all 32,000 employees would be forced to go on strike.

Alleging that Air India management was closing all profitable routes, instead of loss making ones, General Secretary of ACEU J B Kadian said that "this is a systematic approach to sabbotage the company and we are being projected as the reason being the current financial situation."