Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh today made public the much-talked about Dharmadhikari Committee report, which looked into the problems arising out of the Air India-Indian Airlines merger, and said that there will be uniform pay for all pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India.
As per the report, the employees pay scale will be linked to the profits of the airlines and cross training of pilots will be allowed. According to the report, pay and seniority of pilots will be decided within 45 days.
Singh, while presenting the committee’s report, said that Performance Linked Incentives will be given if Air India makes profits. He also said that after the committee’s recommendations are implemented, pay scales, work hours, promotions for Air India and Indian Airlines will be similar.
Ajit Singh. Naresh Sharma/ Firstpost
The Committee will also look into anomalies in pay scales and a uniform policy on working hours.
“The new promotions policy will give fair chance to pilots from Indian Airlines and Air India in terms of career progression,” said Ajit Singh.
The Dharmadhikari Committee, which submitted its report on 31 January has made recommendations on crucial issues like principles of integration across various cadres, seniority and principles of pay rationalisation of the two erstwhile state-run airlines, issues that have been at the centre of the strike called by the Air India pilots.
About 500 Air India pilots who fly international routes have been demanding that their colleagues from Indian Airlines should not be trained to fly Boeing Dreamliners, as they believe it may hurt the career prospects of original Air India staff.
Both companies were merged in 2007, but there have been problems with the integration since then. A central auditor also criticized Air India’s purchase of Dreamliners last year for “imposing an undue long-term financial burden”.
