Air-India VRS plan gets nod

The central government has approved the voluntary retirement scheme for Air-India employees, with an aim to cut down the staff strength of the airliner which has the highest manpower-aircraft ratio. The airline board had okayed the proposal last month and the scheme will come into effect from Monday and be kept open for a two month period, A-I sources said here on Sunday.

The management is expecting about 1,000 employees from the union and non-union categories to apply for VRS, which would cost the airline around Rs 58 crore, the sources said. The airline presently has the highest manpower-aircraft ratio at 650 employees per aircraft. However, the scheme would not apply to flying crew (pilots) and the licenced category (engineers and cabin crew).