The future for Air India, India's national carrier

Should Air India be privatized??

  • Yes

    Votes: 38 71.7%
  • No

    Votes: 11 20.8%
  • Not sure

    Votes: 4 7.5%

  • Total voters
    53

mayfair

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I believe unionisation is as big a problem in private airlines as in a government owned one- the rcent British airways cabin crew strike comes to mind. We've seen similar incidents with other private carriers as well. The biggest hinderance here is the political-bureaucratic interference which has crippled Air India. The employees are further emboldened by this and care little about customer service, as most wh've travelled by the airline would know.

Air India requires radical measures.
 

Rage

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mayfair,

I don't believe any of the private airlines in India have own employee unions. They are simply too small, too many and too fiercely competitive to have them. On the other hand, a giant monolith like Air India has always been susceptible to the cult of personality unionism, ill management and labour unrest. It may arise as a problem with private airlines in the future, but I don't believe it to be likely and we'll cross that pass when we get to it.

I agree, Air India requires radical measures. As with most government institutions, they've become bloated and self-serving, complacent at every possible level. At one point, I thought, under Praful Patel, they could be salvaged. Not anymore.
 

Bangalorean

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Oh yes, please privatize it! High time we stopped subsidizing such Sarkari white elephants.
 

Ray

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Hand it back to Tata.

It was his airline after all!
 

JBH22

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privatization does not work,proven fact,-money for shareholders only-profits-limited opportunities for staff on low wages,when things go wrong-government are called in to bail out the supposed super companies,-more money to the shareholders,-fatcats enormous wages,but no return to pay back what they owe the state.it is all about making profits.

If the govt which is the governing the "whole country" cannot put a suitable person to reshape the National carrier then what are they doing in Delhi??
 

Ray

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Govt does not work either.

Having been in Govt I have observed that there are too many vested interest start working overshadowing the aim. One of the favourite terms is 'Sade liye ki faida' (What is it in for me?).

Take the case of the UID. The much hyped Nadan Milekeni is heading it. My experience is what the in English is aptly term as Buggers' Muddle. One year ago, they descended on me and took one hour compiling personal information of me, my family and all those who lived on the premise. With a flourish they gave me a chit and told me not to lose it since the magic number on it would help identify me to the photographer who would come.

Nobody came. It was just two days ago, a man from the team which had come earlier came. Again, he asked me the same questions but this time it had to be filled in Bengali!! I asked him in which language the UID would be written. He said it would be in English and Hindi. I told him if he wrote my name in Bengali, the spelling would be wrong in English, since my surname has 7 different type of spelling. He agreed. I told him my voters ID card has a spelling that is not the same as in my School or University degrees. And this could have another style of spelling! So, I would have to run to the court and file an affidavit that notwithstanding what is the spelling on my School, University, Voters ID, my military ID and now in the UID, I was still the same chap! For legal purpose, and for travel, it is necessary!

And why the same questions twice, wasting the man's and my time?

Inefficiency is the name of Government! it is synonymous.

And to believe the toast of the town Nilekeni cannot visualise the immense stupidity and inefficienty being perpetuated by him in the name of UID.

I have a poor opinion of him! If this is what a 'wizard' churns up. it does not speak highly of him.

In private industry, it is profits and there is no place to waste time or have laggards.
 

pmaitra

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privatization does not work,proven fact,-money for shareholders only-profits-limited opportunities for staff on low wages,when things go wrong-government are called in to bail out the supposed super companies,-more money to the shareholders,-fatcats enormous wages,but no return to pay back what they owe the state.it is all about making profits.

If the govt which is the governing the "whole country" cannot put a suitable person to reshape the National carrier then what are they doing in Delhi??
^^ It's more that what you think. Guess what, even major airlines of Europe have not been spared from strikes, which I think has been a bane for Air India. The scope is limited and I won't argue whether the strikers were right or wrong, but when it comes to Air India, they really need to improve their services or they will lose customers.

References:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/02/21/germany.strike/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/worldbusiness/16iht-airfrance.17858527.html
 

Blackwater

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well Iam living abroad for the last 10 yrs traveled around the world including India several times .but never in Air India. Out of whole lot i like JET service the best. Though their service level has gone down but still better than others. It's our own desi airline. Jet has given sense of desiness and Desi comfort which Air-india failed to give.
 

mayfair

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mayfair,

I don't believe any of the private airlines in India have own employee unions. They are simply too small, too many and too fiercely competitive to have them. On the other hand, a giant monolith like Air India has always been susceptible to the cult of personality unionism, ill management and labour unrest. It may arise as a problem with private airlines in the future, but I don't believe it to be likely and we'll cross that pass when we get to it.

I agree, Air India requires radical measures. As with most government institutions, they've become bloated and self-serving, complacent at every possible level. At one point, I thought, under Praful Patel, they could be salvaged. Not anymore.
I am not sure of that but recently Jet airways tried to lay off many employees and they protested and Jet was forced to reinstate them with back pay. Unions in private sector are not unheard of.

Air India needs major downsizing and autonomy and I believe reverting the airline to Tatas with minor government stake may not be such a bad idea.
 

Someoneforyou

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Finance ministry refuses to pay Rs 105cr to Air India

Finance ministry refuses to pay Rs 105cr to Air India
India - 13 July 2011

NEW DELHI: Debt-ridden Air India does not seem to be getting life-saving money in a hurry. The finance ministry has turned down aviation ministry's request to release Rs 105 crore to the Maharaja. The home and defence ministries owe this money to Air India for the VVIP flights operated by the airline. The finance ministry had earlier asked aviation authorities to work out a long-term cash requirement for AI based on some reliable plan to turn around the airline.

"AI had taken Rs 200 crore last month from a bank for 15 days to pay salaries. We had hoped payment of Rs 105 crore dues of VVIP flights would help us repay that loan. But that request has been turned down," said sources.

Now a group of ministers on AI will meet next week to discuss how to keep the airline alive. With Tuesday's Cabinet reshuffle ending the uncertainty over Vayalar Ravi (who got additional charge of the ministry this January) continuing as aviation minister, AI employees are looking forward to firm steps from the veteran Congress leader.

"No amount of money pumped in the airline or plans made for AI can work without the right management in place. In the past also we have seen plans like merger and buying planes going horribly wrong and AI is now on death bed. The minister must do something about the serious mismanagement," said a union leader on condition of anonymity.

Thanks to questionable decisions like mega plane deals and AI-IA merger taken during UPA-1, AI is facing an uncertain future with the airline now not able to pay salaries or bank loans on time. A turnaround plan worked out for the airline has pegged AI's cash requirement at over Rs 44,000 crore over the next decade along with over 100 more planes for the airline to survive.

But given its gross mismanagement, whether the government does pump that kind of money remains to be seen. Long time employees including senior pilots feel a board of governance should be formed for AI so that no one individual is able to hold sway over the dying airline. "AI needs money but it also needs the right people at top to ensure that money does not go into a black hole," said a senior pilot who has seen the airline's change of fortunes in past few years.



Source: Finance ministry refuses to pay Rs 105cr to Air India - The Times of India
 

pmaitra

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First of all, Maharaja should simply be split into several Babyrajas, just like Aeroflot was split into several Babyflots.

Each arm should have its own Board of Directors, management and employees; and should function like an independent entity. Any Babyraja that faces liquidation should simply be sold off, the employees laid off and the assets transferred to the best of the remaining Babyrajas with zero transfer of liability. The laid off workers should be denied the right to participate in any kind of election for the next 15 years so as to avoid political blackmailing through the ballot.

Enough of spoonfeeding these bufoons.
 

Phenom

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We need to privatize it,

Why do we even need a government run air carrier? During the 60s and 70s it may have made sense, as most routes were not financially viable for private players, but know things have changed and private carriers operate to almost all the places in India. The best idea would be to divide the company into smaller groups and privatize them all.
 

sob

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IIRC almost 2/3rds of the expenses of AI go towards incentives to it's employees. At a time when the airline is losing market share rapidly and is in perennial losses, why do they have to pay these incentives.
Also it is high time that the top brass including the Civil Aviation minister take the blame for the current mess the Airlines is in. There has to be a deep rooted catharsis to get the Maharaja back into it's feet.
 

Yusuf

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No disinvestment of Air India: Vayalar Ravi

:facepalm:


Government on Thursday ruled out disinvestment of Air India saying it is trying to bring the cash strapped national carrier to 'no-profit, no-loss' status.

http://toi.in/Zl_YfZ
 

Singh

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Bankrupt Air India buys canvases painted by AK Antony's wife

Bankrupt Air India buys canvases painted by AK Antony's wife


She hasn't had an exhibition yet, but her paintings have already been picked up. Bankrupt Air India bought two landscapes for Thiruvananthapuram International Airport's Terminal 3, while Lakshmi Nair, daughter-in-law of the Leela Hotels' Captain Krishnan Nair, took home two flower-themed canvases for their new Chanakyapuri property. Welcome the capital's new celebrity painter: Elizabeth Antony, wife of Defence Minister A.K. Antony. She officially debuts with a show at India Habitat Centre on December 2, to support her ngo for cancer patients.

When Elizabeth, 60, retired from her bank job after 35 years this October, she had painted over two dozen landscapes. Most of them were done during the last two years using photographs sent by friends.

Though Antony was supportive of his wife's art, cost was a concern. "Painting is an expensive hobby, each tube of acrylic costs over Rs.600," says Elizabeth. The couple leads a middle-class life in the heart of Delhi's power zone. Antony, known to be a scrupulously honest politician, declared assets worth Rs.33.54 lakh this year, the least in the UPA Cabinet.

Elizabeth says she has gone out of her way to keep the show apolitical. Politicians haven't been invited, not even her husband. "I want it to focus only on cancer aid," she says. Cagey about revealing how much the paintings were sold for, she says two of her friends are valuing her work ahead of the three-day exhibition.

The artist turned to painting to raise funds for her four-year-old ngo, Navoothan Charitable Foundation, which empowers women in cancer-affected families by equipping them with vocational skills. Being self-employed, they can avail of government aid schemes, she says. Over 20 women have benefited so far. The organisation operates out of Antony's Delhi home and has a branch in Thiruvananthapuram.

Antony's Kitchen Secret -
 

Singh

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Relations between Union ministers A. K. Antony and Vayalar Ravi have been strained.

Relations between Union ministers A. K. Antony and Vayalar Ravi have been strained.

Known for his probity, Antony is unhappy that the civil aviation ministry, which Ravi headed till recently, had bought two paintings of Elizabeth, the defence minister's wife. Sources close to Antony allege that news of a bankrupt Air India buying the canvases was leaked by Ravi's confidantes - which the latter deny. However, the development has caused a rift between the friends.



Read more at: Strained relation : North News - India Today

:taunt:
 

H.A.

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this just says....you need to have connections....damn them...because of people with connections other don't get a chance....
 

Bhadra

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WoW, The Generals, Admirals and Air marshals have been left behind. Hurry up gentemen !
 

SpArK

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Elizabeth is shy and down to earth..i dont think if she minds if the painting is bought by air India or air japan.
Antony and her family used to live in my neighborhood and i have met them and spoke to them couple of times.
 

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