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Some of the proposed policies have been welcomed by pilots and cabin crew, while others have sparked criticism.
As part of its ongoing merger process to create a unified entity with consistent policies, the Air India group is looking to introduce major changes to policies covering room sharing, leisure travel priority lists, allowances, reimbursements, meal plans, and gratuities for its cabin crew and pilots, Business Standard has learnt.
These changes are expected to apply to all three airlines within the group -- Air India, Vistara, and Air India Express, airline executives mentioned.
Vistara is set to merge with full-service carrier Air India by November 11.
On October 1, AIX Connect was integrated into Air India Express, creating a single low-cost airline subsidiary under the Air India umbrella.
Responding to queries on these proposed changes, an Air India spokesperson said: "Following Air India's acquisition by the Tata group, a competitive, contemporary, and performance-linked compensation and benefits policy for all employees was rolled out in April 2023, after a comprehensive benchmarking exercise.
"With the merger of Air India and Vistara formalising, there is a need to harmonise these policies for employees of both 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 added.
Some of the proposed policies have been welcomed by pilots and cabin crew, while others have sparked criticism.
One such change concerns the leisure travel policy, which allows pilots and cabin crew to access discounted tickets for personal travel while off duty.
Previously, each airline within the Air India Group prioritised its own employees for these discounted tickets.
Under the proposed new unified policy, a single priority list will be implemented across the entire group.
This means all pilots and cabin crew, irrespective of their airline, will be treated equally when it comes to access to discounted tickets on any carrier within the group.
While the suggested changes in leisure travel policy changes have been positively received, Air India's cabin crew members have expressed discomfort over the upcoming revised room-sharing policy.
Currently, Air India's cabin crew are provided with individual rooms during layovers. However, from December 1, two cabin crew members will be required to share a room.
A senior airline executive clarified that Air India will aim to ensure that only crew members working on the same flight share rooms.
"The issue arises when one crew member has gone to sleep at 12 am, and another, coming from a different flight, arrives at 4 am and disturbs the first to enter the room. We will do our best to prevent this from happening".
Vistara's cabin crew have already been sharing rooms during layovers under their internal policy.
"As part of the merger process, the group has now established a uniform policy regarding room sharing," the executive added.
Additionally, the Air India group has notified its employees that from 2025, they will no longer be eligible for 'mobile handset reimbursement' or 'workplace wellness reimbursement'.
The email regarding these proposed changes has been sent to the Air India flight crew, who have been asked to provide their feedback.
Executives mentioned that these changes will soon be communicated to the flight crews of other airlines.
A proposed policy revision that has been well-received is the change to the gratuity cap for pilots and cabin crew, which was previously capped at Rs 20 lakh.
Starting November 12, gratuity will be calculated using a new formula that allows for payment beyond the previous Rs 20 lakh limit.
For cabin crew, the layover allowance for international flights will increase from $75 to $125 per night to $85 to $135 per night, effective December 1.
Cabin crew on domestic flights will also see a rise, with an additional Rs 1,000 per night as a 'support allowance', effectively doubling their layover allowance from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per night.
On domestic routes, pilots and cabin crew were previously provided only breakfast. From December 1, the group will offer all three meals on domestic routes.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
