The passengers of Air India are bearing the brunt of the stand-off between the pilots on strike and the Air India management, which has the support of the minister for civil aviation. While the pilots should have withdrawn their strike after the court declared it illegal, it is not that they are completely unjustified in going on strike after giving
sufficient notice. It has been four years since the ill-thought-out, hurried merger of the erstwhile Indian Airlines and the national carrier, Air India, but the management has still not sorted out the issues arising out of the merger. The pilots cannot be blamed for this. One of their demands is wage parity between the pilots of Air India and Indian Airlines. The management’s claim that it does not have the money to do this sounds hollow in the light of the ample instances of not only wasteful expenditure by management but also because of the non-transparent way decisions have been taken that are against the interests of the airline. It would have been statesman-like on the part of the minister to tell the pilots that he would set up a committee to look into their grievances as they have already brought the issues of mismanagement into the open. But this was lacking. On the contrary, his statement that he would rather resign than give in to the demands of the pilots reeks of arrogance and, at the best, bravado. Times have changed. People are demanding transparency and accountability and time is running out for those in authority.
The larger picture gives rise to the suspicion that there may be a hidden agenda to cripple the 100-year-old Air India. Why? Because, for instance, the material recommendations made by the consultant Accenture that would have turned around the airline have not been implemented while hare-brained recommendations are quickly implemented because they are more lucrative. Accenture recommended that the ground handling and engineering divisions be spun off into a separate unit so that it could undertake third-party jobs. This would have harnessed the competency and skills available in Air India, but for four years the management has done nothing about it. If Air India had set up the MRO, no one else would have had a chance because Air India has huge infrastructure and engineering personnel that are the envy of other airlines. Why is there no accountability in the management for this? On the contrary, another group of consultants now has said that Air India should buy 100 more aircraft. Can one imagine anything more detrimental to an airline that is already sinking under the interest burden of the 111 aircraft worth $11 billion (approximately `54,000 crores) it had signed for in 2006, and its present aircraft being under-utilised? Remember, the civil aviation ministry had inexplicably given away 32 lucrative routes to the benefit of private airlines. On the one hand the management says it has no funds to pay the wages of the pilots and on the other they are told to buy more aircraft. What is going on?
The Comptroller and Auditor General has come down on the group of ministers who insisted that Air India buy the 50 of these 111 aircraft that were optional. Why did they do this? And now this very group of ministers is demanding that the airline show its turnaround plans if it wants capital infusion. This defies logic. Only a thorough CBI inquiry can halt the corruption and mismanagement that is crippling Air India and make it the proud national carrier it once was.