Having failed to secure a place in the run-up to the Air India-Vistara merger, the Tata Group-owned Air India is unlikely to renew the contract of 300 non-flying employees.  Before this, these employees were working with Air India for about 10-15 years across different departments and were getting their employment contracts renewed. 

The PTI report stated, “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.” Furthermore, the number of FTC employees, who might not get their contracts renewed is said to be around 300. 

Also, Air India had announced a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its permanent ground staff on July 17. 

Air India in a message to the ground staff said, “We are announcing a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for employees with a minimum of five years of continuous service at Air India and a Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS) for employees with less than five years of continuous service.”

“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,” the PTI report added.  

The fitment exercise which involves the evaluation of roles and responsibilities of staffers of both airlines in the run-up to the merger has been carried out going on for the past few months now. The merits basis was calculated as per the individual’s prior experience, performance and other factors. Air India and Vistara which are two full-service carriers have more than 23,000 employees. 

Vistara is a 51:49 joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, wherein, it is in the process of merging with Air India by the end of this year. Moreover, according to an Air India executive, the merged entity will require a smaller number of ground staff which is said to lead the commencement of an “optimisation” process.

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

The group took over the reins of Air India back in January 2022. And in November of last year, it announced the consolidation of its airline business in the form of a full-service carrier and a low-cost airline. This was done by merging Vistara with Air India and AIX Connect with Air India Express.