The Descent of Air India (51 page)

I have over the years earned, through my performance, a reputation of being an efficient, innovative and result-oriented officer. This is acknowledged even by my detractors. I am not one who allows himself to be manipulated or pressurized by the Unions. I work with a clear conviction—take decisions that are in the best interest of the Company. In a working environment in which most people are afraid of taking bold decisions or simply bide their time, I naturally get singled out.

My recent decisions to see that our new subsidiary company, Air India Air Transport Services Limited, is operationalised as per your and Board’s directions; getting cabin crew to operate flights after getting trained in in-flight service aspects but before going through the flight safety training—with the approval of the DGCA, have naturally not been taken kindly by the Unions affected by these decisions. If Air India Employees Guild felt that induction of contract manpower, which, incidentally, is as per the decision of the Board, would affect their huge overtime earnings. Air India Cabin Crew Association saw reduction in their short crew earnings, because we were, thanks to my decision, able to roster more crew per flight than before. Incidentally, when a flight is operated to United States with five crew members short, not only is the service to passengers badly affected but each cabin crew on the flight also gets USD800–900 as compensation, in addition to his/her normal earnings of USD700. The Company has saved several crores since this decision was put into effect.

I can understand the anger of the Unions against me as my decisions have affected their unjustified and unwarranted earnings but what I fail to understand is as to why is the management not supporting me against their crusade when the company is reaping the benefits arising out of my decisions. I therefore cannot understand the unceremonious manner in which I have been transferred under pressure from the Unions. If my decisions are indeed wrong, they should be withdrawn, as the company cannot be seen reaping advantage of my decisions and also punishing me at the same time.

What has also pained me enormously is that a whole gamut of achievements in HRD field has been overlooked. Some of them are enumerated here.

•  Documents will establish that while Director-IFSD and Director-Operations were both stating in December 2003 that cabin crew and pilots would not be available for our Los Angeles flights and that the launch should be deferred till early 2005, I went ahead and assured the Commercial Director that both the operating crew and cabin crew will be made available, and they were.

•  For the first time in Air India’s history the induction of pilots from abroad was visualised and their possible induction made a reality by me.

•  Sought dispensation from DGCA for facilitating optimal utilisation of operating and the cabin crew.

•  Asked Inflight Service department to roster yet-to-be flightsafety trained crew after ensuring that a minimum of 14 flight safety trained cabin crew are on board. All approvals of the DGCA were obtained by me personally. This has led to savings of several crores for the company by way of reduced compensation to cabin crew. A decision of this nature will only earn the wrath of a union and not bouquets. In retrospect, I feel I shouldn’t have taken a decision of this kind and left it entirely to the department, whose main responsibility it was, even it meant that company was poorer by several crores.

When AICCA threatened legal action and intimated their desire to write to FAA against our rostering of yet-to-be flight safety trained cabin crew, it was again me who sought clarification from FAA through our US office. Our stand was vindicated by FAA. The decision to explore possible use of HR solution companies for manpower in new subsidiaries is again mine.

The above are only a few of my many achievements.

I have done my best by being innovative, by working long hours, by working in company’s interest. It is sad that the work has not been appreciated and those conspiring have been allowed to succeed. This is a small price for me individually. It will, however, be a bigger tragedy for the Company if HRD Department officials, with their kind of past track record, now fail to get good agreements with Unions during wage negotiations on which will hinge the future of Air India. Having compromised their positions with the Unions so blatantly for achieving their goal of getting me out of HRD, how can they be expected to negotiate from a position of strength?

APPENDIX
11

(A letter from Jitender Bhargava to Raghu Menon, Chairman, dated 5 July 2008)

Subject: Perform or perish time to take a hard look.

I have over the years written several letters to the incumbent CMDs regarding our work practices and suggested what needs to be done to make Air India a premier airline. It is unfortunate that no heed has been paid to suggestions as a consequence of which the circumstances/situations in which these letters were written years ago are still relevant. The state of the airline has in the meantime only worsened.

A quotable quote that I have very often used is: the fact that a third of the country is illiterate is a tragedy but the bigger tragedy is that those who can read can’t read the writing on the wall. If only we could, the airline wouldn’t have been in the sorry state that we have landed this great institution in. I would therefore like to suggest the following— one last time:

1. 1.  We must set an agenda for the company viz what we wish to achieve. Simply put, each departmental head must have a task cut out with time frame for him/her to achieve. Considering the current situation, each department must be given no more than four weeks to draw out an action plan and implement it to be the best, when benchmarked against competition, in their respective fields.
   
2. 2.  As employees at various levels seriously believe that it is the wrong management decisions that are a cause of our present state and management personnel believe that unions/employees are coming in the way of transforming Air India as a customer-friendly airline, this issue needs to be conclusively settled through due introspection before corrective action can be initiated.
   
3. 3.  We have been taking a soft approach on various issues with the result that our work culture has over the years remained more or less the same, if not deteriorated, whereas there should have been a radical change for the better since we now operate in a highly competitive environment. Whether a soft approach will help us make Air India a better airline or a hard approach is imperative for effecting a change needs to be decided. We can’t be seen taking a soft path endlessly even if it is not showing results.
   
4. 4.  With due apologies to my colleagues, we also need to come to a firm conclusion as to whether the team that we have for shaping the company’s destiny is good enough. It is possible that some may have reached their current positions due to sheer luck, seniority, external factors, sycophancy, by default and not necessarily merit. Can they deliver? This issue needs to be settled before it is too late.
   
5. 5.  Can we hope to transform the airline when most employees work only from 9 to 5, five days a week, without realizing the challenges before the company? Long working hours with enough work and clear-cut company goals should be made mandatory.
   

If we don’t have an agenda, can’t decide on the approach for effecting changes in work culture, we will head nowhere, but gradually sink as we have been for over the years.

Submitted for consideration and a healthy debate on the subject since it concerns the future of the airline and its stakeholders.

APPENDIX
12

(A letter from Jitender Bhargava to Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, dated 27-5-2011)

Subject: Is the airline being sabotaged?

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

It has almost been two years since you reassured the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort while addressing the nation on the occasion of the Independence Day that requisite help will be extended to Air India for its survival. We in Air India were particularly relieved at those assuring words.

I am not sure how updated are you about the real state of the national carrier now. As the condition of Air India has gone from bad to worse on all key performance parameters since your statement, I wish to share the facts so that at a later stage no one in the prime minister’s office can say that the real facts were not brought to your kind notice in time for your intervention.

REALITY CHECK ON AIR INDIA’S PERFORMANCE

•  Air India’s market share is going down month after month.

•  Air India’s losses have been on the rise and the airline has now begun to default even on interest payments. All other airlines in India and abroad have seen their losses going down in the same period.

•  The much talked about turnaround plan has been a non-starter.

•  Passengers’ perception of the airline is at its nadir with most having given up on Air India.

•  Air India has been luring passengers only by offering low fares, adversely affecting financial viability.

•  The airline has been low on productivity of men and machines, nowhere close to industry benchmarks or even its own past track record.

•  The employees’ morale is virtually non-existent.

Simply put, the airline is in the pits with more and more people losing hope regarding the airline’s ability to survive. Whilst some have in their wisdom already concluded that the airline is gradually heading towards an imminent closure by looking at the way in which the airline is being managed, I would like to go a little further and aver that the airline is being systematically killed in broad daylight by those administering it, and possibly even those who are monitoring the airline’s performance.

I wish to elaborate on this for better understanding of the harsh realities.

Given the critical situation of the airline one would have expected the airline to be administered efficiently, steps being taken to upgrade the services at all customer interface points, concerted efforts being made to enhance revenues, seriousness being reflected at all levels of management—Board to the lowest level of employees—so that the imminent financial bankruptcy staring the airline could be averted. It is shocking to see that no such efforts are being made by the management, as a consequence of which the airline is sinking, and sinking fast. Why is this being allowed? Somebody needs to answer this question! If we keep attributing this to global trends and ignore the ground realities, I am sorry to say that we will only be hoodwinking ourselves.

Anyone with even a modicum of economic sense would know that to be on the path of recovery, the gap between income and expenditure has to be gradually bridged, not widened. Two valuable years for turning around the airline have gone by since your statement but there is no sign of efforts for revival on the horizon by increasing revenues. The entire thrust seems to be on cutting costs and seeking aid from the government which while giving a short term relief just cannot be a permanent solution to the woes of Air India.

It is common knowledge that for generating higher revenues and igniting hope for any revival, the product quality has to match that of the competition. Notwithstanding the new fleet, the product is nowhere close to that offered by either private airlines operating in India or the international carriers with which Air India is competing globally. Sadly enough, product quality does not seem to be a priority or an essential requisite for turning around as is evident from the way customer services–related departments are being managed or mismanaged, knowingly or by default.

LACK OF VISION

In the airline industry, the product quality is to a significant extent constituted by the ground experience i.e. When a passenger checks in for a flight and after he disembarks; the on board experience i.e., food, wines, warmth of service, inflight entertainment besides a neat and fresh ambience in the aircraft. I wish to apprise you of the total lack of efforts on these fronts which compels me to conclude that Air India as a product is not suffering by default but the future of the airline is being deliberately and systematically sabotaged. Please look at the factual position as it exists in Air India.

Ground Services Department and the Customer Services Department, responsible for ground services and on board services respectively, are being neglected like never before. If these two departments are regarded to be having no significant role to play in refurbishing the product, it only shows that the management has no clue of what the airline business is all about.

INEXPERIENCED & PART-TIME HEADS FOR KEY CUSTOMER-RELATED DEPARTMENTS

The ground service department after seeing multiple changes in the past two years at the Departmental Head level is today headed by an IPS officer, Mr S. C. Mathur, on deputation to Air India for looking after Security Department. Can you believe this! Besides the fact that he has no experience in the field of customer services how can a part-time head (in addition to security department) do justice to the demanding job for ensuring good quality experience for passengers? Why has the department been subjected to such frequent changes under the present Chairman and finally entrusted to an IPS officer? To improve or destroy?

Likewise, the Customer Services Department has witnessed four changes in two years—Manjira Khurana, Capt. A. K. Sharma, Chitra Sarkar and is now headed by Director-Operations, on part-time basis, who besides being in charge of administering the Operations Department also undertakes international flights and is hence away from headquarters. How many hours can the incumbent Captain A. S. Soman devote, besides the fact that he has no experience of what inflight service is all about? Instead of upgrading on-board services to match competition, the services have deteriorated considerably in the past few months.

These two illustrative examples of how key customer-oriented departments are being managed should convince anyone that the management is not at all serious in ensuring a good product for getting more passengers to fly Air India, which will eventually translate into higher revenues. While enhancement of revenues ought to have been the top most priority for an airline in deep financial crisis, what we are witnessing today is just the opposite—the management is paying no attention and is having the departments managed by inexperienced officers on part-time basis. Am I not therefore correct in my analysis that Air India’s future is being sabotaged? What surprises me even more is that there is no one to question the management about such absurd placements defying all logic and sense.