Air India Layoff: At least 700 employees of both Air India and Vistara airlines are going to be laid off. This does not include employees nearing retirement and employees with fixed term contracts
At least 700 employees of both Air India and Vistara airlines are going to be laid off. According to two officials, the official announcement is likely to be made by October this year. The much-awaited merger of the two airlines has put the sword of layoffs on the employees. Both officials said that this does not include employees who are nearing retirement and employees with fixed term contracts.
According to a report by Neha L.M. Tripathi of HT Live, Air India, which has about 18,000 employees, is going to merge with Vistara. This will require accommodating about 6000 Vistara employees in the merged unit. One of the two officials said, “The internal fitment process has been completed and layoffs will be announced soon. About 700 employees of both Air India and Vistara are expected to be laid off, excluding employees with fixed-term contracts and those who will retire soon.”
Pilots and cabin crew will not be laid off
Despite repeated attempts, an Air India spokesperson declined to comment. The airline had appointed Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte as consultants to help in the fitment process.
He said, “The global standard is about 60%, but the airline aims to retain about 95% of its employees. Those who will be laid off do not include flying staff (pilots and cabin crew), employees approaching retirement age and employees with fixed-term contracts, whose contracts are automatically renewed under normal circumstances.”
Layoff decision based on performance
At the same time, another official said that the layoff decision has also been taken on the basis of performance. A third official, requesting anonymity, said, “Employees in non-flying functions were to be assigned roles based on organizational requirements and individual merit.”
The airline had previously announced two rounds of voluntary retirement schemes for employees. In this, about 2,500 employees left the group. The Tata Group became the owner of Air India in January 2022. During privatization, under the agreement with the government, they were barred from firing any employee for a year.
