NEW DELHI: In a letter addressed to employees, Air India chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani asked them to go in for a complete overhaul in their work culture and assured them that performers will get a better deal and their interests will be safeguarded.
“These are changing times and any change, despite being inevitable, is always hard to accept. The complexities of working in a PSU environment would get replaced by a corporate culture, a culture in which merit would get a better deal.”
The letters comes as precursor to the disinvestment process of AI, following the airlines inability to service its accumulated debt burden of Rs 50,000 crore.
“This huge debt has accumulated due to continuous losses over the years. You would, however, appreciate that unless a solution is found to this huge debt, survival in the long run is almost impossible and the proposal to consider disinvestment is a step in this direction,” Lohani said in his letter.
Early this month, the Cabinet had given an in-principle approval for stake sale of AI and a committee under Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is examining the details of stake sale. “This would indeed be a win-win solution for employees,” Lohani wrote.
His letter also highlights the government has a firm conviction that the process of disinvestment is only meant to make Air India a much stronger world-class airline.
“This should enable a full realisation of the inherent potential of your airline besides creating an environment that would indeed be conducive for all of us who are used to working hard with commitment and integrity,” wrote Lohani.
He added, “The wonderful team of Air Indians, especially the licensed personnel (which include pilots, aircraft engineers and cabin crew) should therefore have nothing to be sceptical about.”
Lohani also stressed in his letter that for any organisation, employees come first, not clients. “We remain confident of solving the genuine grievances of the employees,” he said.