Amid mounting losses, Air India asks almost 700 staffers to vacate south Delhi flats

With every passing day national carrier Air India is losing Rs 6 crore on its international operations to US and Europe due to Pakistan airspace closure. The airline is now staring a debt to the tune of Rs 9,000 crore for the current fiscal.

This may be one of the reasons the airline, in a letter April 4, asked at least 676 airline employees to vacate posh apartments in Vasant Vihar colony in south Delhi and look for alternate accommodation. The airline employees have instead been advised to "find a flat on rental".

The Air India Housing colony has 810 flats out of which 676 are presently occupied as per the letter.

Air India said it would, if required, enter into a lease agreement with the landlord of the employee.

"If the employee is faced by the employee in getting suitable flat as per the entitlement (HRA/License Fee), Air India will undertake to subsidise the lease amount to the tune of Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000 as per the entitlement of employee.

A spokesperson from the airline confirmed the development and stated that the process of vacating the flats was on for quite some time, as the present land was now with NDMC.

"The employees would be given lease rentals as per their entitlement for such time as they are employed with Air India." he said

Daily losses up to Rs 6 crore

An Air India official, who spoke to India Today TV on conditions of anonymity, said the airline is staring at daily losses to the tune of Rs 6 crore, adding that there is little control over the airspace situation.

"This is a government entity. There is nothing that we can do about it. Yes there are daily losses to the tune of 6 crores but we have little control over the airspace situation. Crew shortage on the other hand is being taken care of," the official said.

Another source in the knowhow said that the Civil Aviation Ministry was well aware of the current situation in the airline and that it had been communicated that Air India needed fresh funds at the earliest.

However, an Air India spokesperson declined to comment for how long the airline could continue to operate without fresh infusion from the government.

Some internal airline staff has already expressed concern stating that the airline was not even flying the full capacity on international routes. "

"Air India gets 70-80 per cent of the full capacity on international routes. It no longer has the monopoly that it once enjoyed. People have other airline options," the source said.

Air India currently operated long haul flights to New York, Newark, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco.

The airline has encountered heavy losses in recent times after Pakistan announced a partial closure of its airspace; this has seriously affected Air India flights from Delhi which are now being routed through Omani and Iranian airspace.

Besides its flights have to make halts at Sharjah for refueling, further adding onto the travel time and working hours of the crew. The Pakistan airspace was closed on February 27 and still remains partially closed.

While the Newark flight was kept on hold for sometime due to the technical difficulty, it was restored soon after. Sources have told India Today TV that the flights to San Francisco, Newark and New York flights have been badly affected due to the partial airspace closure in Pakistan.

Irrational decisions

Air India Cabin Crew Association leader said the current hirings from Jet Airways were like a "drop in the ocean".

"Yes, it is a fact that Air India is losing Rs 6 crore a day. But that's because of irrational decision making. Today, despite the huge losses, we are still operating daily flights to USA from both destinations. We haven't learnt a thing from the past experiences. My crew shortage still remains acute," said KVJ Rao General Secretary All India Cabin Crew Association.

Air India currently has 2,200 crew members for domestic circles and 800 are permanent. For international circles, there are 1,000 permanent cabin crew members and 1,800 are on contract. According to experts, the airline needs 4,000-5,000 crew members.

An Air India spokesperson said: "We currently have the need for 1,200 crew members. 541 have already been shortlisted." Incidentally, 150 crew members have recently been hired from the now grounded Jet Airways.

As of now, sources maintain that the national carrier has not defaulted on payment to any of the concerned agencies but it needs funds at the earliest. With losses mounting, many fear that the airline could face a similar fate as Jet Airways.