Mumbai:
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel is expected to meet representatives of Air India unions and the management in Mumbai on Wednesday to review its rationalisation and turnaround plan. This comes just two weeks after the executive pilots of Air India had struck work and gone on mass sick leave for five days protesting 50 per cent cuts in their productivity linked allowances.
Caught on the back foot, the management had deferred the cut and the government had formed a sub committee of the Air India board to examine the issue. There are 14 unions of pilots, cabin crew, engineers, officers and other employees in Air India.
The cash strapped national carrier has accumulated losses of over Rs 7,200 crore since last fiscal.
The government has in principle agreed to infuse funds up to Rs 5,000 crore into the ailing carrier on the condition that it implements a concrete plan of action to plug the losses.