Air India: The Great Divide Within

New Delhi: Air India is at war, with itself. There are two systems working side by side in the flag carrier and the current pilots' agitation, if anything, exposes that.

In 2007, the government had merged Air India (AI) and Indian Airlines (IA) to make one of the largest airlines in the world by fleet-size and manpower. Five years down the road, it has come not to be.

Insiders today say that though they sit in the same offices and share a common brand name, the split is wide open, as two systems compete to run one airline.

Not just pilots and the cabin crew, even managers and junior staff from both sides fight over allowances, pay scales and even holidays.

On the surface, it looked like an issue with the pilots. But when contacted by IANS, even the cabin crew-in-charges, cargo managers and other functionaries voiced the same resentment over the merger.

"The merger created problems that cannot be solved. Our grades, work, promotions and allowances are different. When you see your colleague from the other cadre doing the same work, but getting easy promotions, allowances, there is bound to be resentment," a senior official with the operations arm told this correspondent on condition of anonymity.

"The company below the rank of DGM (deputy general manger) is not at all integrated. There are two systems of promotions, allowances and even foreign postings."

Another official with the airline's cargo division said the problems started when the two systems collided. AI was following a system under which the department head has the discretionary power to promote and the promotions are time- bound, while IA had a strict Human Resources (HR) code of interviews and written tests.