AI crew hits air pocket

National carrier reduces number of personnel on most of its flights way below DGCA mark

AI crew hits air pocket

National carrier reduces number of personnel on most of its flights way below DGCA mark

Next time you fly Air India between metros or on international routes, don't get irritated if the in-flight service takes a bit longer to materialise. There is a reason for it: the national carrier has reduced the number of crew members on most of its flights way below the requisite number as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) rules.

Sources in Air India told MiD DAY that the airline has recently taken permission from the DGCA to allow it to fly its Boeing 747 aircraft with only 7 crew members and Airbus 321 aircraft with only four crew members. While the former needs at least 12 crew members, the latter has to have a minimum of five crew members on board every flight as per DGCA rules.

"The Airbus 321 is mostly used on metro sectors and has passenger capacity of around 175 while Boeing 747 is used on international sectors with a passenger capacity of over 350. The arrangement has been done in order to avoid cancellations due to lack of staff," said a senior Air India official seeking anonymity.

Sources said that private airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher have more than 15 crew members for Boeing 747 and at least 8 for Airbus 321.

When contacted, Air India official spokesperson said that the company was in the process of recruiting 700 more crew members. "These are routine dispensation exercises and requisite permission is taken by any airline to meet such exigencies. It is always done with the permission of DGCA," he said.

However, a senior crew member told MiD DAY that it was not just only the service issue. "Even the safety of passengers is being compromised. If there is some exigency, crew members might find it difficult to tackle the problem. In some of the sectors where aircraft run to their full capacity, the cabin crew finds it very difficult to properly attend the passengers," he said.

Expansion drive

The national carrier is planning to expand domestic operations by connecting small towns using smaller aircraft. In near future, the number of flights are to be increased from 168 to over 200. The national carrier currently has 3,200 cabin crew.
AI originally had an equity base of Rs 145 crore when UPA-I placed order for 111 new aircraft worth Rs 55,000 crore and merged AI and Indian Airlines. Thanks to some questionable decisions by the government followed by global recession, the Maharaja is now saddled with a life-threatening high cost debt of Rs 40,000 crore along with mounting losses.
AI's equity base will be Rs 2,145 crore very soon (the government infused Rs 800 crore last fiscal and the balance Rs 1,200 crore will come now). While Rs 2,000 crore will come in the next fiscal, another Rs 1,000 crore will come in the financial year after that, taking the equity base to Rs 5,145 crore.

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