Air India top honchos may lose their jobs

Officials hired during Praful Patel's tenure under scrutiny

Air India top honchos may lose their jobs

Officials hired during Praful Patel's tenure under scrutiny

All the top appointments of Air India, made during the tenure of former aviation minister Praful Patel (pic), are under scrutiny.
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And the controversial head honchos whom the loss-making national carrier hired by shelling out around Rs 8 crore last fiscal may be replaced with new faces soon, say highly placed sources in the ministry.

"All the top private recruitments done by Air India during Patel's tenure are under the scanner of the new aviation minister (Vayalar Ravi).

He has asked for a detailed report on the performance record of these top officials. The minister can take a call on the fate of these officials anytime," said a top official in the aviation ministry.

Recently, the Air India management sacked Pawan Arora who was hired as chief operating officer (COO) of Air India Express during Patel's tenure.

Arora's appointment had created a lot of controversies. The independent directors on the board of civil aviation ministry raised doubts on transparency of the recruitment process.

Later, the board approved his dismissal.

"The minister has clearly conveyed his message to all the top Air India officials that no inside politics will be tolerated when it comes to reviving the loss-making national carrier.
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If people who have been given the job of strengthening the airline do not deliver, they will be asked to leave," added the official.

However, Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a member of Safety Advisory Committee of Civil Aviation, told MiD DAY, "I will say that the new lot which was recruited on big fat salaries has done nothing.
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Instead, they have killed the motivation of the employees which is necessary for the growth of any company."

MiD Day tried to speak to the aviation minister who is in Kochi now, but he was not available for comment despite repeated calls.

Rs 7,189 cr
Loss incurred by Air India in 2008-2009

Rs 5,551 cr
Loss incurred by Air India in 2009-2010

Shifting Headquarters to Kochi

The national carrier that incurred a loss of Rs 5,551 crore last fiscal hired four top executives Austrian Gustav Baldauf as COO Air India, Stefan Sukumar as Chief of Training, Pawan Arora as COO of Air India Express, and Kamaljit Rattan as Chief Information Officer at a cost of around Rs 8 crore.

Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, who hails from Kerala, recently announced that the headquarters of Air India Express, so far operated out of Mumbai, will be shifted to Kochi soon.