Air India, Vistara hold townhall; address pilots’, employees’ concerns

Days after Air India Express, part of Tata Air India cancelled several flights due to the unavailability of crew, and a month after a similar incident temporarily disrupted the operations of Vistara, the two airlines which will soon merge, conducted a townhall, the first such, for their employees, to address concerns arising from the imminent union.

Ever since the merger was announced on November 2022, employee unions of both airlines have aired concerns ranging from career progression to inequality in treatment, lower pay to job security. Both recent disruptions can be attributed, directly or indirectly, to this.

Air India chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) Campbell Wilson and Vistara’s CEO Vinod Kannan, who is also driving the integration process as the Chief Integration Officer spoke about the merged Air India.

Employees of both airlines attended the virtual townhall. The combined staff strength of the two airlines is over 20,000.

One of the concerns expressed by the pilots of Vistara was restricting flying time for a co- pilot from 70 to 40 hours and reducing salaries.

Addressing this, Campbell said 120 pilots have already been seconded between Vistara and Air India, officials familiar with the matter said. He spoke about the integrated pilot upgrade sequence where pilots would not lose out on their seniority in either of the two airlines and when integrated pilots’ sequence will be created.

According to the people, who asked not to be named, the movement of the employees will continue to happen via secondment, Campbell said. The leadership team will include Campbell as the CEO and MD of Air India Group, Kannan as CEO of Vistara and the Chief Integration officer and Aloke Singh as CEO of Air India Express.

The secondment is based on an assessment of employees across functions, flying and non-flying. The people said that Campbell told the audience that the assessment of 7000 staff is complete.

Also Read: Air India Express crew joins duty after mass sick leave, service to be normal by Tuesday

The assessment and secondment of staff had become a prickly issue with pilots of Vistara last month.

According to the people cited above, Cambell said that “the assignment of existing employees into the new structure is being done on the basis of merit and competency, and by a reputed independent agency” and that the companies would be “transparent and forthcoming with employees on those parameters on which the organization structure was designed and the process of fitment done”.

However, a section of pilots is worried about the future of their career.

“The new merit-based career progression policy risks fostering a culture of cutthroat competition and prioritizing pleasing superiors over sincere performance, ultimately benefiting the organization at the expense of employee well-being,” one of them said.

Kannan, the people familiar with the matter said, spoke about the process of integration and the work that has been undertaken so far in anticipation of the merger.

Campbell told employees that the anti- trust approvals have been received and the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) hearings are complete, with only the publication of orders awaited.

The merger will create India’s second largest airline in the domestic space, according to passengers flown.

AI group will have full-service Air India and low-cost Air India Express. The combined entity will have a fleet of 250 aircraft and 470 aircraft on order and the combined employee strength will be about 23,500

The group, therefore, will be second largest in domestic market and largest in the international market in and out of India.