Air India to be operational till privatisation: Minister to AI unions

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi/ Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has reassured Air India’s employees that the passenger carrier will remain operational till its privatisation process is complete, one of the airline’s unions said on Thursday. Puri was speaking at a meeting with Air India’s employees’ unions here on Thursday.

The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA), one of the unions which was present in the meeting, said that all the unions opposed privatisation, but the minister stated that the government does not have funds to infuse into Air India.

“The meeting was called to have constructive dialogue and address the genuine concerns of the employees,” the ICPA said in a statement late on Thursday evening. Puri, the union said, said that Air India will run till its privatisation and requested all the unions to cooperate towards the process. According to the ICPA, the minister expressed his displeasure over pilots and engineers demanding the government-owned airline to waive off their notice period.