- Wednesday, October 02, 2024
The allowances for cabin crew of Air India’s international flights will be increased from $75-125 bracket to $85-135, while there will be no change in case of domestic flights
By: Shajil Kumar
AIR INDIA is introducing a revised policy for the cabin crew members of domestic and international flights, wherein certain sections of the members will have to share rooms during layovers, according to a source.
The revised policy will also be applicable for Air India Express, which has merged AIX Connect with itself.
Among other changes, the source in the know said the allowances for cabin crew of international flights will be increased from $75-125 bracket to $85-135 bracket.
There is no change in the allowances for the cabin crew of domestic flights.
An airline spokesperson said that with the merger of Air India and Vistara formalising, there is a need to harmonise these policies for employees of both the organisations.
“As part of that exercise, we have communicated the changes applicable to Air India employees. The revised compensation and benefits continue to be competitive and benchmarked to industry standards,” the spokesperson told PTI in a statement.
Under the revised policy, cabin crew members, excluding in-flight managers and executives, will have to share rooms during layovers, the source said.
In-flight managers and executives are generally senior people with at least 8-9 years of experience.
While room sharing for cabin crew is already there at Air India Express and Vistara, this will be the first time such a practice will be introduced at the Tata Group-owned loss-making Air India.
The changes in the policy also comes against the backdrop of a section of Air India Express cabin crew members seeking redressal of their HR issues under the labour law.
The case is in progress before the Central Labour Commissioner.
Meanwhile, the Air India spokesperson also mentioned about the airline introducing a performance-linked compensation and benefits policy for all employees in April 2023.
The merger of AIX Connect with Air India Express was completed on October 1 while the integration of Vistara with Air India will be completed next month.
Vistara experience
Air India said flights operated with Vistara aircraft will have numbers starting with the prefix ‘AI2’ after the merger next month while Vistara’s planes, crew and service will continue to operate as before.
The full-service carrier also emphasised that the Vistara experience will remain post-merger.
The merger of Vistara – a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines – with Air India is scheduled for November 12 that will mark a major consolidation in the Indian aviation space after the integration of AIX Connect with Air India Express.
There are concerns in certain quarters on whether Vistara passengers will continue to get the same services like now, post merger as Air India, which is in the transformation phase, has been facing certain service issues in recent times.
An Air India spokesperson on Wednesday said the teams of Air India and Vistara have been working hard for over a year to ensure that the merger of the legal and regulated entities is seamless for both customers and staff.
The Air India-Vistara merger, announced in November 2022, will also see Singapore Airlines acquiring a 25.1 per cent stake in the merged entity. (PTI)
