Top Air India officials enjoying lavish perks amid 'austerity': Pilots Union

Air India pilots have told the management that while austerity measures are heaped on pilots, senior officials and management are enjoying lavish perks like free club memberships, scores of leased cars and hundreds of litres of free fuel every month and there has been no cutback.

New Delhi:Air India Pilots' Union on Friday pointed out that how the senior officials of the Indian carrier have been kept secure from major pay cuts and the management is yet to come with a meaningful austerity measure that even dents the perks and privileges being enjoyed by them.

In a joint letter to Air India Chairman and Managing Director, Rajiv Bansal, the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) said, "The 50% cut for senior AI officials is only on "other allowances". This equates to an approximate 10% pay cut on the gross salary for the director personnel who is also a functional director. This is a deliberate whitewash to shield top management from any significant pay reduction."

The letter by pilot unions further claimed that the executive directors and the functional directors are eligible for 140 litres and 270 litres of fuel per month respectively. The fuel expense for these two categories alone runs into approx Rs 30 lakhs per annum.

"As per the cost-cutting measures circular reimbursement will stand reduced by 10%. This is an insignificant cut on a completely frivolous entitlement which serves to highlight the senior management's self-serving approach instead of meaningful cost-cutting measures," added the letter by pilots unions.

The pilots said that the airline provides elite corporate club membership at company expense to the functional directors in high-end exclusive clubs. "...burdening the Frontline workers with a huge packet of up to 70%? This lavish perk for functional directors is conveniently ignored in the austerity measures as this privilege is deemed more important than reducing expenditure," said the union in a letter to Air India CMD.

The pilot unions claimed that around 63 cars are provided on lease for functional, executive regional directors and GM's. Average lease rent per car per month as per market rates would be around Rs. 24,000. This estimates close to 2 crore rupees per annum.

"The factors of redundancy and efficiency as per compulsory leave without pay scheme should first apply to the officials of the senior management from 2016, who are directly responsible for the bungled decision making that has seen Air India losses mount year after year, from Rs 48,000/- crores in 2017 to rupees 70,000 crores," said the union.

The pilot unions further said that it is not only unprincipled for the senior officials to exclude their perks, eligibilities and entitlements from the austerity measures but also irrefutable proof that the intent of the management cost-cutting measures is to further the agenda of abusing employees under the guise of this epidemic.