Cutting costs: No free junkets for AI officials
NEW DELHI: Senior Air India (AI) officials will now be required to take prior approval for official trips abroad, according to a new set of directions passed by national carrier’s new chairman and managing director (CMD) Ashwani Lohani. They will also need to file a detailed report as to how these trips were useful to the company.
Lohani has issued a series of instructions aimed at cutting costs, instilling discipline and providing better working conditions to employees, since taking charge as CMD on August 31.
“There would be no free junkets. The company is in the midst of implementing a turnaround plan and all employees, no matter how senior they are, need to take responsibility,” said a senior AI official.
Lohani has also clamped down on the number of daily upgrades to business and first class for the passengers. “The upgrades, which earlier used to cross 50-a-day, are less than 10% of that number,” the official said.
Sources said among the employee welfare measures, the facility available to pilots to travel as additional crew member during leave that was stopped in AI a couple of years back, would be restarted.
“This is a basic facility provided by the airlines globally, and had led to a lot of heartburn among AI pilots,” he said.
Lohani has already issued directions to executive pilots to fly more and not sit in office, and has also prescribed a zero-tolerance policy on crew, both cockpit and cabin, caught stealing stuff from the flights.
“The initiatives that the new CMD is taking will go a long way in changing the work culture of the airline and make it a more professional organisation,” said aviation expert Subhash Goyal.