The strange silence about Air India scam

Last Saturday, a friend of mine who had gone to Kolkata called up to groan about the high airfare she had to cough up to get a return ticket to Mumbai as her Air India (AI) flight got cancelled due to the pilot strike. She kept complaining about Rs6,000 extra she paid to buy a ticket on another airline. 

Like her, I met numerous passengers at the Mumbai airport who complained about the exorbitant fares. But not a single soul was concerned about the Rs2,000 crore bailout package that was sanctioned by the government to the national carrier. 

That huge amount is our money after all, our blood and sweat which we pay as taxes to the government amidst tears. We cry hoarse when a cabbie overcharges us, we are ready to take the cheating autorickshaw wala to the police station or engage in mass movements like ‘meter down’.  But nobody is interested in knowing where public money is going and how it is spent or wasted.

When the 810 pilots of AI’s erstwhile Indian Airlines went on strike on April 26, their demands were simple: they were asking for pay parity with their AI counterparts and an investigation into the current mess that is called Air India. In 2007, AI and Indian Airlines were merged to form a strong, formidable airline that will give other airlines a run for their money in terms of market share. But after the merger, the ministers and babus are just running away with public money by demanding bailouts of over Rs1,200 crore every year and without any explanation! 

The pilots’ demands are just their method of going on strike, but causing inconvenience to thousands of tax-payers is not right. They should not have gone on strike but tried to get promoted or pay hike through means that very few know better than them. Their proximity with higher ups in the seat of power is well known what with flying ministers and VIPs frequently. Embracing such a tactic would certainly have helped in getting their salaries credited to their accounts. Or else, on the second or third day of the strike, they should have approached the management to discuss the issues and withdraw the strike.

But these 10+2 pilots, who are respected for being the best-trained lot in the industry, want to know who is responsible for the step-by-step destruction of Air India and wasteful expenditure of our taxes? They want to know why their profitable routes, which had more than 85% occupancy rates, were either shut down or given away in bilaterals to domestic and foreign carriers? They want to know why an airline that had a turnover of Rs7,000 crore per year placed orders for 68 aircraft worth Rs35,000 crore? They demand to know why the airline was forced to form a joint venture with a Singapore-based company and share 40% of its annual earnings of Rs50-60 crore in ground handling?

But answers to these questions will give the government some pain on the wrong side. It will not be surprising if skeletons of shady deals tumble out of the AI closet. So, as citizens of India, let’s rejoice over stable airfares and wear a topi to support Anna Hazare and wear the government’s ‘topi’ on this issue as well.