New Delhi: In an attempt to check the problem of unending flight delays and poor performance, government has asked Air India to cut salary of any employee who causes delay in flights.
Those who would be affected by this move include cabin crew, pilots, engineers or ground handling personnel, who report late for work thereby causing flight delays leading to monetary losses to the airline. The losses will be recovered by deducting the requisite amount from the salaries of the erring staff.
Captain A K Govil, AI ED operations issued a circular last Friday saying "Secretary (aviation) has noted that flight delays are causing monetary losses besides loss of reputation to AI. (He has directed that) accountability for delays has to be fixed... In case of delays on account of late reporting by cabin crew, pilots or delays on account of engineering/ground handling personnel or late catering by caterers, the loss would be recovered from them".
Govil's circular added, "Salaries shall be paid only after related deductions have been effected. Strict disciplinary action shall be taken against repeat offenders."
Apart from plain indiscipline, AI has been facing a mix of issues that have made its OTP (on time performance) a nightmare for its flyers.
These include a spate of engineering issues late last year which saw a notice being issued to head of engineering department and a severe shortage of both pilots and cabin crew.
