A-I Md Admits To Internal Problems

Air-India (A-I), the country's national carrier, is fast becoming an organisation with an environment of suspicion and distrust, according to J N Gogoi, managing director (officiating), A-I.

While acknowledging the existence of internal problems at A-I publicly, probably for the first time, Gogoi likened the airline to "a goose that lays golden eggs, which is already surviving on a life support system".

Speaking at a function here for felicitating A-I's long-serving employees today, Gogoi said, "We can see that our organisation is fast becoming one with an environment of suspicion and distrust -- distrust between the management and the unions, amongst the unions themselves or amongst the members of the management. No organisation can prosper in such an atmosphere."

"We have been continuously blaming external factors and found various excuses, including that of alleged external interference for our lack of performance. It is my belief that those excuses are just to hide and cover up our internal shortcomings and weaknesses," Gogoi added.

Gogoi, who took over as A-I's managing director following the suspension of Michael Mascarenhas in June over charges of financial irregularities, chose not to talk about the financial performance of the airline, which "is influenced by factors many of which are not within our control".

Aruna Mascarenhas, director (inflight services), and V K Verma, director (commercial) of A-I were conspicuous by their absence at the meeting organised to honour employees who had completed 40, 35, 30 and 25 years of service at A-I.

Meanwhile, the ongoing tussle between the A-I management and Air-India Aircraft Engineers' Association (AIAEA) took an interesting turn, with the management obtaining an injunction from the city civil court, restraining AIAEA from going on any agitation. However, the AIAEA, in a release issued today, said its protest was successful.

The AIAEA had yesterday said that it would be observing a token closure of all non-operational areas today to protest against the management's alleged violation of an agreement with the union. The AIAEA is also demanding a pay parity with the A-I pilots.