Thursday, December 10, 2015

MERGE AIR INDIA AND INDIAN AIRLINES

FROM BUSINESS WORLD OF 20 OCTOBER 2006


A wedding much postponed


Air India has again made news for old and wrong reasons – flights being cancelled, and booked passengers being shabbily treated. This used to be par for the course when a national monopoly and reciprocal landing rights gave Air India a secure market. Then came the IT boom with Indians flying out in millions; Air India was not equipped for the rapid expansion of services that became necessary, and reciprocity had to be buried. First, the government negotiated more flights with other governments, and as Air India could not use its rising landing rights, foreign airlines filled the gap. Then came the congestion at the metro airports, especially Bombay and Madras; since the government could not increase their capacity in time, it allowed foreign airlines to fly to other airports. Then came the opening to the east; in an effort to improve its ties with South-east countries, the government removed landing right restrictions on their airlines. Finally, the private airlines that had proved themselves in the domestic market were allowed to fly abroad. Today, Air India is just a speck in the sky. It finds no shelter from competition. Its staff is losing its esprit de corps, and are looking after themselves. The story is not very different in Indian Airlines. It made a loss in the first quarter of this financial year; a dozen of its aircraft have been grounded – a strange achievement for an airline that is inducting new and expensive planes.
There were two things that were incongruous about the commissioning of Indian Airlines’ first new plane in 12 years. Some time after independence, the bottle of champagne that used to be used on such occasions was replaced by a coconut; but this time the coconut was a part of an elaborate pooja. This was a custom brought in by the previous BJP regime; it was surprising that a minister of a secular Congress ministry succumbed to it. The other was the minister’s obvious displeasure. He warned both Indian Airlines and Air India that the government would not be a mute spectator to unspecified goings-on and would take corrective action.
One measure that the government is contemplating is merger of the two government airlines; it has set up a ministerial committee to look at the issue. As it will find, it has been looked at many times before – and shelved each time. The reason is that the structure of staff, salaries and incentives in the two corporations is very different. Air India being an international airline, its pilots drew internationally comparable salaries. The staff did not; but they got such handsome flying and outstation allowances that a man could retire after marrying an Air India air hostess. Lifestyles came to match the incomes and footloose habits. Air India staff were a cut above Indian Airlines staff, who were confined to the country, got low salaries and still lower allowances. The inequality caused intermittent labour trouble. To pacify its employees, the government allowed Indian Airlines to fly to neighbouring countries. That raised allowances and opportunities, but did not make them comparable with Air India.
The arrival of private airlines was traumatic at first for Indian Airlines, but proved a blessing in disguise. It rapidly expanded the market; while Indian Airlines’ share fell, its business expanded manifold. Being a government airline, it could not go bankrupt. It used this privilege to cut fares to such a level that private airlines came to senses and began to match its fares.
Now that sunny period is coming to an end for Indian Airlines. Domestic competition has intensified so much that no airline can make a profit. There is overcapacity. It will have to shrink; some airlines will have to close shutters. It will not be Indian Airlines, whose owner can dip infinitely into taxpayers’ pockets. But it is passing through turbulent weather, and that has unsettled Praful Patel. Being a good businessman, he is looking for a way to improve the airlines’ finances; a merger came naturally to his mind. It would enable them to pool routes, eliminate duplication and raise resource utilization. It is such an obvious solution.
But it will founder on the same rocks as before. The trade unions in the two airlines can never agree on harmonization of pay, incentives and work loads. The airlines are already overmanned; elimination of inefficiency will make many people surplus.
Hence the minister does not need a ministerial committee. He needs to sit down with the trade unions and knock some sense into them. He has an easier and more permanent cure available to him – privatize the airlines. But this old-style Congress government would rather resign than think of it.