Air India - Systematic Sabotage

[Nitin Jain]

Most people of this country have a common ground of hatred towards pilots mainly because of their so-called high salary structure. One must first understand that no professional on this planet earns more than what they are due. So let us first stop blaming the airline's losses on pilots' salaries. On the contrary they earn a lot less than a lot of people in the corporates do. 

Air India has been systematically sabotaged over many years by various goverments. 

The sabotage began when TATA & Singapore Airlines were not allowed to take over Air-India back in the late 1990s. This process of privatisation was squashed by Late Mr PRAMOD MAHAJAN & NARESH GOYAL for obvious reasons. Mr Ratan Tata would surely be able to throw more light on this subject if he wishes to. During that time, one of the privatisation clauses was as follows : The Company taking over Air-India would enjoy a 5 year monopoly on international sectors before opening up the same to Indian private carriers. This would give sufficient time to the Company taking over to turn the airline into a profit making body before facing competition from private carriers. As of today, only a fool would invest in Air-India with all its bilaterals given away to all the private Indian & foreign carriers. 

Later, both Mr Naresh Goyal & Vijay Mallya used Mr Praful Patel to gang-rape Air-India in every possible manner to assure its extinction. Even though Air-India was in need of new aircaft, the minister went overboard to order an obnoxious number of aircraft which would serve them in three ways. Firstly, THE LARGER THE ORDER, THE LARGER THE KICKBACK. Secondly, the order would put Air India into permanent debt which would assure its extinction. Thirdly, when the airline goes bankrupt, its brand new aircraft can be picked up by Mr Goyal at throwaway prices. 

If the above was not enough to ensure Air India's extinction, Mr Praful Patel went ahead and sold more than 200 acres of Air India's land at throwaway prices. The land that has been gifted away can be valued at anywhere from Rs1,50,000-2,00,000 crores (bigger than the 2G scam). 

There have been innumerable scams indulged in by various aviation ministers over a period of time. Some of them are as follows: 

1) Wet leasing and Dry leasing of aircraft with huge kickbacks. 
2) Recruitment of foreign pilots through certain recruitment agencies; kickbacks from this could amount to close to US$1000 per pilot per month. 
3) Stopping operations on profitable routes. Private carriers start operating on those routes as soon as Air India stops. 
4) Some employees of Air India from the the Commercial Department were suspended for sabotaging Air India flights between India and the US. These employees showed these flights as FULL even though they weren't. The passengers were then redirected to Jet Airways. Therefore, the passengers who could have flown to/from the US direct, had to fly Jet Airways via Brussels. It is worth noting that THE MANAGEMENT HAS REINSTATED ALL THOSE RUTHLESS EMPLOYEES (so that they don't blow the whistle). 
5) The biggest scam was the MERGER. The merger was initiated so that both the erstwhile Air India & Indian Airlines would then fly into the Gulf under a common code. This allowed an opportunity to another Indian Carrier to operate into the Gulf. IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT JET AIRWAYS STARTED OPERATING TO THE GULF AS SOON AS AIR INDIA AND INDIAN AIRLINES WERE MERGED.

 

This is by no means a complete list of scams perpetrated on the airlines. One can simply go on and on about the scams in Air India (especially by Mr Praful Patel). THE AIR INDIA SCAM CAN EASILY BE TWICE THE MAGNITUDE OF THE 2G SCAM. 

Let us give full marks to the pilots who have had the courage to come out their comfort zone and gone on an indefinite strike, risking their careers for a noble cause. If they hadn't, passengers may not have been inconvenienced today, but would have had to pay a heavy and permanent price in the near future following the Maharaja's demise. If the Maharaja kicks the bucket, the PRIVATE CARRIERS WILL NOT WASTE A SINGLE DAY BEFORE EXPLOITING THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY BY MEANS OF HIGHER AIR FARES. 

My appeal to all citizens of this country: Let's come together and use all our resources to fight this corruption. Let us not be exploited by the likes of Mr Praful Patel, Naresh Goyal & Vijay Mallya. 

WE NEED THE MAHARAJA MORE THAN THE MAHARAJA NEEDS US.... THE DEATH OF THE MAHARAJA WILL LEAD TO THE DEATH OF FAITH IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF EVERY INDIAN AND WILL PAVE THE WAY TO AN ERA OF CRONY CAPITALISM.... 

MR RATAN TATA.... PLEASE RESCUE THIS AIRLINE, BUILT SO PASSIONATELY BY MR JRD TATA TO BE ONE OF THE BEST AIRLINES IN THE WORLD AND INDIA'S PRIDE....