AI may be asking for a bail out package from the government and claiming that it is trying to save every ‘penny’ spent. However, a recent incident only highlights otherwise.
Air India (AI) may be asking for a bail out package from the government and claiming that it is trying to save every ‘penny’ spent. However, a recent incident only highlights otherwise.
On June 23, AI’s eight member crew on board AI 306 Mumbai-Delhi, landed at the Delhi international airport at 7pm. They were supposed to board the return flight IC 602 Delhi-Mumbai at 8pm. “We were at the international terminal and the return flight was at the domestic terminal. We missed it,” says a crew member.
The crew assumed they would be put on another flight AI 890 Delhi-Mumbai from the international terminal at 10.25pm. “We requested the airline whether we could board that flight instead. However, they refused and put us up in the five star Hotel Ashoka,” he says. A room at the hotel cost Rs8000 for a night. The crew was asked to board a flight the following day.
“It is amusing to hear the management speak of saving money and cost-cutting. But here they refused to accommodate simple changes that could have saved them a lot of money,” he says.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the company said he did not have enough details to comment on the issue.
On May 22 the AI CMD Arvind Jadhav issued a statement which stated that the airline’s staff will fly economy and are not entitled to be upgraded to business class, although pilots got an exemption from this rule. “There are a lot of retired officials of the airline who still continue to fly with the airline. If they want to save money, they can take back these freebies,” says the crew member.
The airline is working hard to get a bail out package of Rs1000 crore from the government. In fact, it has even deferred the June month salary of its staff and has asked the senior executive officials to forego their June salary payable in the month of July.
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