Air India unlikely to extend services of 300 non-flying employees on fixed-term contract

Mumbai: As many as 300 non-flying employees on fixed-term contract (FTC) at the Tata Group-owned Air India are unlikely to get their service agreements renewed after they failed to secure a place in the company in the run-up to the merger of Vistara with it, sources privy to the development have said.

So far, these employees, who have been working with Air India for 10-15 years in different departments, had been getting their employment contracts renewed, they said.

"But as they have not been assigned any role during the fitment exercise, which is almost complete now, their contracts are unlikely to be renewed," a source told PTI.

The number of FTC employees who may not get their contracts renewed stands around 300, said another source.

Air India did not respond to a PTI's query on the issue.

The airline on Wednesday announced a voluntary retirement scheme/voluntary separation scheme to its permanent employees who have been found redundant or surplus in the fitment exercise.

"Being on contract, these employees are not entitled to schemes like VRS or VSS, which Air India announced for its permanent staffers, and so they will not be getting such offers, unlike permanent employees, who also did not find a position after the fitment exercise," said the source.

As part of consolidating its airline business, Tata Group is also merging Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India).

Vistara is a 51:49 per cent joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines while Air India, Air India Express and AIX Connect are fully-owned by the steel-to-software conglomerate.

The fitment exercise -- involving the evaluation of roles and responsibilities of staffers of both airlines -- in the run-up to the merger has been going on for the past few months.

The exercise takes into account an individual's prior experience, performance and other factors.

The two full-service carriers -- Air India and Vistara -- together have more than 23,000 employees and after the fitment exercise a lot of redundancies have appeared, largely in the legacy carrier.

Tata Group took over the reins of Air India in January 2022 and in November that year the Group announced consolidation of its airline business in the form of a full-service carrier and a low-airline by way of merging Vistara with Air India and AIX Connect with Air India Express.