An advisory board consisting of Mr Ratan Tata, Mr N. R. Narayana Murthy and Mr S. Ramadorai is being spoken of, along with former heads of Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa. Will they be able to turn Air India around?

The question that should be addressed is: “Will they be allowed to turn Air India around?” All of them come from a culture where performance and proficiency is the yardstick.

Air India is drowning in a political quagmire. Is the Prime Minister willing to stick his neck out in an atmosphere where vote-banks count more than economics?

Assembly elections are round the corner. Two key States — Maharashtra and West Bengal — are in the picture. Knowing Ms Mamata Banerjee’s anathema towards Mr Ratan Tata, will she allow him to function and will the Prime Minister have the political will to counter that?

The Civil Aviation Minister cannot shy away from the responsibility for the mess in Air India. He fathered the merger of AI and IA and created the big mess. Will the PM have the political will to apportion blame?

Everyone talks about the excess number of employees in AI when compared to other international airlines.

The number quoted — 46,500 employees for 147 aircraft, or the ratio of 330 employees per aircraft, does not give the true picture of who is responsible. Will the PM and the expert committee go back 20 years to identify the root cause?

The overstaffing of Air India and Indian Airlines began in the late 1980s, when the politicians ‘mandalised’ the aviation system. Both the national carriers were converted from professional to political outfits.

The need to have a minimum percentage of reserved category employees meant that more vacancies and posts were created. Economic viability was never questioned. The political masters ensured that their vote-bank coffers were kept filled to the brim.

Many senior professionals were sidelined or bypassed to cater to the whims and fancies of political masters.

The IAS lobby took over the running of the airlines. Staff requirements were never analysed or questioned. The priority was “how to please the master”.

Nepotism and favouritism took over and professionalism took a back seat. In every department, posts and vacancies were created with two objectives. First, to meet the reservation criteria and, second, to create positions for their sons and daughters.

The numbers projected would satisfy both counts and no one was held accountable. If the staff strength of the combined version of the two airlines is 46,500, half of them are there due to political compulsions.

The tax-payers’ money was used and misused to satisfy the political masters.

The CMDs in the early 1990s resorted to indiscriminate wage agreements to prevent an exodus of employees to foreign and private airlines. Along with the mushrooming growth of airlines, corruption reared its head.

Today, licences can be bought, accident investigations silenced, rules flouted and caution thrown to the winds — all for a price. All you need is a political godfather to overcome any hurdle. The most ludicrous statement that has emanated in the recent past is the clamour to cancel aircraft orders.

Ever since the Airbus 320 kickback drama started, every succeeding government stalled the induction of new aircraft for the national carrier.

If Air India and Indian Airlines suffered, it is because of this gross negligence on the part of the government to induct new aircraft.

The need of the hour, today, is to retire old aircraft and induct modern, fuel-efficient ones.

Private airlines, which got a headstart in fleet acquisition, benefited mostly because of the patronage of the political bosses. For almost 30 years, the national carriers have been messed up and, yet, the revamp is targeted in 30 days! That shows the fallibility of the plan.

Can the advisory board, whose members are not conversant with the aviation industry and its inherent problems, find a solution? How do they identify the professionals and the hangers-on in the airline? Their first meeting will begin with the line “How do we solve a problem like Air India?” but very soon, they will find that even a genius like Viswanathan Anand will be puzzled and stumped when confronted with the political stonewall.

Let them ask for details of staff strength versus number of aircraft in the mid-1980s. Let them ask for the details of all the vacancy projections in the last 20 years. Let them affix responsibility on the team that created so many managerial posts and the unreasonable wage agreements. Let them understand the irrational route structures introduced to satisfy political requirements.

Before the private airlines were permitted to operate international flights, Air India and Indian Airlines duplicated flights on the same routes and had different offices, costing the exchequer a heavy burden in foreign currency.

Offices with bloated staff numbers were opened in countries and stations where they never operated.

The postings were filled up with the “personal and political” needs of the people who ran the airlines. Yet, no one has questioned the various ministers or the IAS lobby for the mess. Employees and professionals are being blamed.

God has saved Indian aviation from disasters for a very long time. The new board will need His help in curing the cancer that has afflicted the national carrier.

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