Air India flight delays: Salary cuts as punishment is no solution, overhaul system instead

New Delhi - A fortnight back, I was on an early morning Air India flight to Bengaluru. Air India gets such bad press that I was justifiably apprehensive on several counts. Will the flight take off at all in that peak fog season from Delhi? Will it be on time or will the captain or cabin crew arrive late?

I was pleasantly surprise to find that not only was the flight on time, the crew provided good service with minimum fuss. Must be an aberration, I thought. Air India has had a dubious track record of on-time performance, specially when compared to low-cost peers like market leader IndiGo.

Now, the Civil Aviation Secretary has cracked the whip, saying any flight delays because of late arrival of cabin or cockpit crew, ground handling staff, engineers or even flight caterers would mean their salaries get deducted. This order is applicable from 1 February.

Is this the best way to instill discipline in sarkari workers and is AI seriously in need of some good convent school type of disciplining where a formula would be worked out for how much of an employee’s pay is to be lopped off for late arrival? How will this calculation be made anyway?

An employee union representative points out that the airline is severely short of cabin crew and has many times violated laid down safety procedures by operating flights with less than mandated cabin crew strength. He wonders why the ministry and the secretary are not taking steps to mend this situation.

“We have added new routes like Melbourne, Sydney, Rome and Milan to our network. But where is the additional crew? Now, we get mails from the management saying cabin crew should notify 45 days in advance about any casual leaves they may want. How can they predict emergencies,” this official wondered.

In fact, at least some of the flight delays are due to severe cabin crew shortage at Air India. The estimated shortage is as high as 600-800 members. Air India has been trying to recruit cabin crew but has had little success so far. So the first thing AI needs to do is recruit enough cabin crew, delays will automatically be reduced.

Then, delays do not happen because of crew alone - there are myriad factors like ATC delays, engineering issues etc. These also need to be fixed. Around Diwali in October this year, Air India reported massive flight delays which officials admitted were largely due to trouble with some engines which grounded aircraft - many flights had to be clubbed or cancelled. These delays cannot be laid at the door of the crew or caterers.

Another important factor is being overlooked by the secretary in his zeal to discipline errant staff. A veteran airline professional who has worked extensively with low-cost carriers (LCCs) in India points out that the systems at Air India need overhaul more than individual cabin crew. He says instead of asking cockpit crew and cabin members to report well ahead of a flight, AI keeps reporting time fluid and then creates crew zones for pickup.

In an airline, like IndiGo for example, the captain is typically asked to report at least an hour before the flight and cabin crew even earlier. This, the professional says, is not the case with Air India since it wants to save on crew transportation costs and clubs crew of several flights for pickup.

“In a private airline, one delay means the captain/cabin crew is hauled up severely and repeat offences mean he or she is threatened with sacking,” this professional says.

Air India’s On Time Performance (OTP) has not been the best, no denying it. But we must not compare it to LCCs like IndiGo because they operate point to point services unlike Air India which is a network carrier.

Having said that, AI has been at the bottom of the pile in at least the top four domestic airports, among all domestic airlines. For November, AI operated almost three in four flights on time. Its October OTP was 63.3% or every third flight was delayed. In September AI’s 75.2% flights were on time, in August 74% and in July 77.2% flights were on time. In each of these months, it was the worst on-time performer among all domestic airlines.

We are not advocating inaction on the part of Air India’s management for errant crew which is found delaying flights. In fact, strict action should be taken against all errant behaviour.

But that cannot be done by threatening to work out a formula for calculating a salary cut. Rather, a system should be put in place to define what actions can be taken against a crew member for the first delay, subsequent delays and whether his or her job is on the line for repeat offences.

Also, Air India needs to hasten its hiring to fill the staffing gaps. The latest move to cut salaries could set off internal resentment and bad blood among employees, who are already seething because of salary delays.