Air India mulls redeploying 10% of its workforce

As part of its personnel rationalisation drive, Air India is considering redeploying about 10 per cent of its employees to various departments in the ministry of civil aviation. Currently, the airline has about 13,000 employees. Of this, 1,500-1,600 are likely to be redeployed to organisations such as the Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety and the Airports Authority of India.

A senior airline executive told Business Standard, “Manpower rationalisation has been a major area of focus for us. We have not made any major recruitment. About 65 per cent of our workforce is aged more than 45; we have a natural attrition rate of 1,500 employees a year. Additionally, we are collecting lists of excess manpower that might be available across departments for redeployment, as recommended by the ministry.”

Preliminary data available with the airline show there is scope to redeploy 12 per cent of its workforce to other organisations within the ministry.

"We have to consider the age profile as well as the educational qualifications of the employees while examining cases for redeployment. There are two to three identifiable areas. In Delhi airport for instance, there are about 500 employees in involved commercial activities (such as ground handling and ticketing) and 600-700 loaders who can be redeployed if AISATS can fully take-over operations", added the executive.

Together with surplus manpower available at airports in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kochi, the count of excess staff would go up to as many as 1500-1600 employees.

Once composite lists are formulated about the profile of surplus manpower available with Air India, the airline is looking at writing to the Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety (BCAS) and to the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to gauge possibilities of redeploying the excess manpower to these departments after requisite training.

The initiative follows a directive from Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju Pusapati who in detailed guidelines issued on August 11 had instructed the airline to rationalisation of manpower from time to time and to redeploy surplus manpower "after suitable training/retraining in organisations within the Civil Aviation Ministry such as Airports Authority of India (AAI), Bureau of Civil Aviation Safety (BCAS) and in other organisations in Government of India".

AI, as of March 2013, had 25,000 employees, a decrease of around 1,800 from a year before. In the last financial year around 6,600 were transferred to Air India Engineering Services Ltd (AIESL), a new subsidiary, and 5,300 to the new ground handling services venture, Air India Air Transport Services Ltd (AIATSL). The two wholly-owned subsidiaries, AIATSL and AIESL, were formed as part of the turnaround and financial restructuring plans. The two bodies have been functional since February 2013.

A second executive in AI informed, "We would have 9,500 employees by FY16. Due to this reduction, our aircraft to employee ratio would improve to 1:179 in 2015-16 from a peak of 1:301 in 2011-12." The former ratio includes the employees in the two new subsidiaries.

On considering the staff in only the main airline body in FY16, the ratio would improve to 1:82, probably the best globally, say AI executives.