#dnaEdit: National carrier grounded

It did not really call for a comptroller and auditor general (CAG) audit to ascertain the pitiable condition of Air India. The current mess that the airline finds itself in, is the cumulative  result of decades of misuse of a public sector corporation by its owner: none other than the government itself. The mishandling of Air India — committed by several governments and many ministers — has been public knowledge for a long time. 

In his just published book, Vinod Rai, has criticised the large-scale purchase of aircraft by Air India. But it can perhaps be argued that if an airline is to offer competitive services in the league of  global operators like Lufthansa, British Airways and more recently Etihad, it has to have the best available aircraft. Air India once used to be a strong player on the intercontinental routes which required wide-body, long-range aircrafts. Only two aircrafts fall in this category: Boeing and Airbus. Boeing often offers  attractive financial packages for selling its aircraft. Their offers were backed by the US Exim Bank which virtually funds these aircraft purchases at fairly low rates of interest. It is not unknown that the margin money contributions are low for the airlines and the debt level high — something underlined by the CAG. 

The trick of the game is to use these aircrafts optimally to recover the money invested in them. With due care and maintenance, the aircrafts should be deployed as much as possible. This is the normal practice among global airlines too. 

But here lies the rub. To use the hugely costly aircraft optimally, your airline must be reliable, that is, its flights should be on time, regular and snag-free. On all these counts, Air India  lost its reputation and that too years ago. Let’s consider some of the reasons behind the loss of reputation. 

Air India Boeing 747s, the basic workhorses for its intercontinental long haul flights, were routinely withdrawn from commercial service, to fly the country’s successive Prime Ministers on their overseas trips. Most of the time, two such aircraft would remain requisitioned at the expense of its bread-and-butter customers  — those who paid full fares for their long-planned trips. One aircraft would carry the nation’s Prime Minister, the other would stand by for emergencies. For a regular airline, the simultaneous withdrawal of two Boeing 747s — especially without a surfeit of such aircraft — would cripple all its flights. Air India passengers, at many global airports, have been found begging for alternative flights and tickets to reach their destination. 

Such senseless and insensitive treatment to those who were paying for the airline’s service drove its loyal customers to competing airlines. How else could Air India find it difficult to fly to full capacity between India and North America? Let’s not forget that to buy  a ticket at short notice on any of these routes on major foreign airlines, you have to pay through your nose. 

Besides, there was a host of other malpractices by government officials. Any number of them would ask for a first or a business class ticket on Air India on its regular international  flights. In addition, ask for special favours and treatment while flying on complimentary tickets. The malpractices pointed out by the CAG are not issues of high finance or perspective planning. They are simply of misuse and misgovernance.