[New Delhi]National Carrier.s Additional Hiring May Raise Air India’s Wage Bill to Rs 100 Cr
Air India is hiring additional 800 cabin crew and around 250 pilots, including commanders,
As per airline sources ,promotions across segments and hike in Dearness Allowance are likely to be other contributing factors in the increased staff cost, which is pegged at Rs 3,200 crore for the period ending March 31 next year,
Air India had managed to slash annual wage bill to Rs 3,100 crore in the previous fiscal as against Rs 3,600 crore in FY 2011-12 by abolishing productivity-linked incentives as per the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) guidelines.
Air India currently has a workforce of 27,500 people with 20,500 of them regular employees and rest on contract.
Facing acute shortage of cabin staff, Air India has to hire 800 additional cabin crew this year of whom around 450 have already been inducted.
In addition, the government-owned carrier has also inducted some 80 pilots so far this year and has advertised to hire 180 more in the coming months.
Air India, which has managed to stay afloat on a Rs 30,000 crore bailout package from the government which is to be availed over a 10-year period starting 2012, reported a net loss of Rs 5,547.47 crore in 2014-15.