Air India engineers oppose privatisation of national carrier, approach MP Derek O'Brien

Air India’s aircraft maintenance engineers and service engineers, who have opposed plans to privatise the national carrier, met Derek O’Brien, Member of Parliament and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on tourism and culture, on Wednesday.

The All India Aircraft Engineers Association (AIAEA), All India Service Engineers Association (AISEA) and Air India Employees Guild (AIEG) submitted a letter voicing their concerns to O’Brien. The unions said that O’Brien agreed to arrange a meeting of the engineers with the parliamentary committee.

The letter, which was also sent to the ministry of civil aviation and the civil aviation minister, stated ‘Many parliamentarians and past CMDs (chairman and managing director)of Air India have commented that the strategic decisions at the ministry level have caused huge debts, like unplanned fleet acquisitions, merger of two different entities Indian Airlines and Air India .’ The letter also stated that privatisation of the national carrier and it’s subsidiaries should be avoided, and an effective revival plan should be formulated instead, with participation of the employees. The unions also sought an immediate appointment with the standing committee to present their idea.

A senior AIEG member said, “Its been six months, but none of the employees are clear about the happenings of their own company. We tried our level best to fix a meeting with the management, but there has been no response from them. Hence, we want a meeting with the standing committee.”

The unions said that if the airline is privatised, other private airlines would come together to dictate pricing.