Blackmail

Pilots hold everyone hostage because the government always pays the ransom

Pilots hold everyone hostage because the government always pays the ransom

The Comptroller and Auditor Generals report on the ministry of civil aviation,tabled in the House last year,had asked the government to bail out Air India,roll back flying rights to foreign airlines and give it a more than level playing field. It ended on this note: the ministry of civil aviation and the government must recognise that Air India is the national carrier8230; a symbol of the state. But then,the CAG can afford this attachment to an archaic idea. The CAG,after all,is not accountable to the people in the way that government is. Its misguided defence of AI,however,frames the syndrome that the latest pilots strike has once again brought to the fore: the inability of government to see AI for what it is and to take the hard decisions necessary to deal with it. Now,with Delhi High Court declaring the AI pilots strike illegal,following action from the AI management,which de-recognised the Indian Pilots Guild IPG and sacked 10 pilots,it is high time the government confronts a problem of its own making.

A malaise as deep as AIs can only be addressed by an overhaul of its structure. That a union representing no more than 200-odd pilots of pre-merger AI does not think twice about inconveniencing passengers and jeopardising the debt-ridden airline for reasons like the exclusive right to fly long-haul routes and first-class travel on duty,is a symptom of AIs terminal illness. What has been killing AI is the governments limitless largesse,even more than its own financial irresponsibility.

The bigger picture that Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh is urging the striking pilots to see is this: the bailout was designed for an airline with a debt burden of Rs 44,000 crore,whose losses amounted to Rs 6,994 crore for FY 2010-11. Moreover,AI debt has a sovereign guarantee,which affects the governments balance sheet. Yet the jaded airline hands out discounted tickets for its staff and their extended families,and its pampered pilots insist they are blue-collar workers while drawing white-collar salaries. Nor should the Indian Commercial Pilots Association ICPA act holier-than-thou,despite being on the other side in this case. The ICPA,representing the pre-merger IA pilots,was responsible for earlier troubles with its insistence that the merger was discriminatory. But the bottomline is this: such blackmail can be resorted to by the IPG or the ICPA because they know that their employer is willing to yield. Only disinvestment and downsizing can help AI,which makes the best case against itself.