As 300 AI pilots face the axe, top bosses fly off to China

While the lossmaking Maharaja continues to sink deeper into a mire the airlinersquos top executives appear to be giving the predicament here a royal ignore in favour of flying to foreign destinations While a section of Air India pilots continue to remain on strike two top bosses of the national carrier have decided to attend an international summit of airlines at Beijing The person who is looking after the affairs of Air India in their absence is none other than the civil aviation minister Chinese checkers Air India CMD Rohit Nandan The offices of CMD Air India Rohit Nandan and director commercial and corporate affairs Deepak Brara confirmed to this newspaper that both are on an official trip to Beijing to attend the conference of International Air Transport Association IATA ldquoHe has gone to attend the IATA summit in Beijing and is expected to resume office by Wednesdayrdquo said the staff at the CMDrsquos office in Mumbai The reply received from Brararsquos office was no different ldquoHe is not in the city He has gone for the IATA summitrdquo said the office staff Out of here An Air India official told MiD DAY that both bigwigs left for the Chinese capital on Saturday by an international airline ldquoThey are on an official trip to Beijing to attend the IATA summit 2012 They have left on Saturday and are expected to return back on Wednesdayrdquo said the official on condition of anonymity He also added that both officials are authorised for business class travel and fivestar accommodation and their combined stay may cost Rs 57 lakh Past Air India officials whom MiD DAY contacted maintained the trip was not required under the present circumstances lsquoMisplaced prioritiesrsquo Former AI managing director Captain DS Mathur said ldquoIt is great to attend an IATA meet But when your own house is not in order it is not mandatory to go there This shows what your priorities are In my view what they could have done was to send a representative from the commercial department as thatrsquos what the summit is all about It was expected of them to stay in the country and solve the issue that is of utmost priorityrdquo Jitender Bhargava former executive director PR Air India said ldquoKeeping in view the turmoil in the airline and the companyrsquos financial status such a visit sends a wrong message to the rank and file regarding the need for observing austerityrdquo Incidentally Kingfisher which is also a member of IATA is not participating in the event Sources confirmed that the main focus of the beleaguered airline is to get itself back on track Striking a sour note For the past 36 days 400 Air India pilots are on strike of whom 101 have been terminated There is a buzz that the airline might sack all agitating pilots in the coming days The net loss due to the ongoing strike has crossed the Rs 400crore mark IPG representing aviators of erstwhile Air India now merged with Indian Airlines went on strike on May 8 against the move to train their counterparts from IA on the soontobeinducted Boeing 787 Dreamliner The strike has crippled Air India39s international operations with the airline only operating 38 international flights from the original 45 servicesu00a0 What meet International Air Transport Association IATA is an international trade body created by a group of airlines The annual event which also is known as Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit is a platform to share ideas and meet officials from other airlines The 68th IATA Annual General Meeting and World Air Transport Summit is being held in Beijing from June 10 to 12 and is hosted by national carrier of China ldquoAir Chinardquo During the summit the Air India representatives and other delegates are expected to partake in panel discussions pertaining to doing business in China future of airline distribution value of aviation social media and air transport and commercialisation of biofuels etc In the words of Tony Tyler Director General amp CEO this is the summit agenda for 2012 ldquoOur 2012 discussions will focus on some of the economic and other challenges facing our industry squeezed between high oil prices and still fragile profitability but since we will be in China a country of huge economic scale we will also spend some time discussing how to make the most of business opportunities thererdquo