INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The government plans to offload 76 per cent equity share capital in Air IndiaMumbai: Air India has called a meeting of its pilot unions in
New Delhi next week to discuss about the proposed strategic disinvestment amid opposition from other employee unions
On April 5, Air India chairman and managing director Pradeep Singh Kharola had held a meeting with representatives of four employee unions
on the proposed privatisation and their concerns.Air India Disinvestment
"Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) have been called by the Air India chairman and managing director
next week to discuss about the proposed privatisation," sources at the airline told PTI here
The meeting is expected to take place on April 17, they said.2
The two pilot unions - IPG and ICPA - together claim representing around 1,400 non-executive pilots of Air India's wide and narrow-body
These two unions are believed to be in favour of privatisation as long as all their dues are settled before the strategic disinvestment.3
The employee unions opposed to the privatisation have intensified their stir against the move
Around 11 Air India unions have formed a joint forum to fight against the government's decision to handover the national airline to
private players amid improvement in its fiscal and operational performance.The forum has already held lunch hour protest meetings at four
places in Mumbai and plans to hold similar meetings at other stations also, according to its leaders.4
As per the preliminary information memorandum on strategic disinvestment by the civil aviation ministry on March 28, the government plans to
offload 76 per cent equity share capital of the national carrier as well as transfer the management control.5
The proposed transaction would involve Air India, its low-cost arm Air India Express and Air India SATS Airport Services, which is an equal
joint venture between the national airline and Singapore-based SATS.
