Air India lays off over 180 non-flying staff, aviation's firing spree on

Staff let go: As many as 180 non-flying staff have been laid off by Air India during the last few weeks, while the airline has stated that the affected people were unable to utilise the voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) and reskilling opportunities, sources said.

In the process of Air India’s repositioning and rebranding, the loss-making Air India was taken over by the Tata Group in January 2022. Efforts have been made by the Tata Group to streamline Air India’s business model.

An Air India spokesman, while divulging details of the recent lay off said that as part of the fitment process, employees in non-flying functions have been assigned roles based on organisational needs and individual merit.

"There has been a comprehensive process that has been followed to assess the suitability of all employees over the past 18 months. During this period, there have also been multiple Voluntary Retirement Schemes and reskilling opportunities offered to employees,” said the spokesperson. "However, for less than 1 per cent of our employee base who have not been able to utilise VRS or reskilling opportunities, we have to part ways. We are honouring all contractual obligations during this process," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Air India has desisted from stating the exact number of staff who have been laid off, sources said it was just over 180 legacy employees. A total of almost 18,000 employees are a part of Air India. As per the company, two rounds of VRS have been offered since the takeover by the Tata Group.

The multi-year transformational initiative Vihaan.AI, has a key aspect of building an agile and effective organisational structure in line with the business model to support expansion and ambition, the spokesperson added.

(With PTI inputs)