Corporate culture will be good for Air India: Lohani

NEWDELHI: The corporate culture that comes with a new owner will encourage merit and help Air India compete globally, chairman Ashwani Lohani wrote to employees, assuring them there is no cause for concern from its planned privatisation.

The government has decided top riva tis et he debt-ridden airline that has struggled to compete with aggressive rivals despite prolonged financial support.

“Ownership changes that we expect at Air India would also lead to a change in working environment and work culture. The complexities of working in a PS U (public sector unit) environment would get replaced by a corporate culture, a culture in which merit would get a better deal,” Lohani wrote in a letter on Tuesday, a copy of which was seen by Mint.

The letter came on a day Air India’ s employees union Air Corporation Employees’ Union (ACEU) staged a protest against the disinvestment at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. “ACEU appeals to government not to go for privatisation of Air India,” JB Kadian, general secretary of ACEU, said in a Tuesday statement.

ACEU represents Air India’s non-technical staff and has nearly 8,000 of the total 21,137 employees as members.