Show cause notice to AI`s COO for his reported remarks

Air India`s Chief Operating Officer Capt Gustav Baldauf has been served a show cause notice following his reported remarks about political interference in the airline`s day-to-day affairs.

Mumbai: Air India`s Chief Operating
Officer Capt Gustav Baldauf has been served a show cause
notice following his reported remarks about political
interference in the airline`s day-to-day affairs.

The national carrier issued the notice last evening
after an interview Baldauf gave to a daily, which quoted him
as saying, "It is certainly a difficult environment, in the
Indian environment, the stakeholder - the government - plays
too prominent a role in operations".

The Austrian national, who earlier worked in senior
capacities in several airlines including Jet Airways and
Austrian Airlines, was quoted as saying, "When you call
someone from outside, let him work. The government should
control but let him work. It should not be involved in
day-to-day operations."

An Air India official said, "The management has not
taken his remarks lightly and has sought his explaination on
the issue".

Baldauf, who also met Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar
Ravi, refused to comment on the matter.

Baldauf has been opposing the removal of Capt Pawan
Arora as the COO of Air India Express, saying it would affect
the turnaround plan of the ailing national carrier.

After Baldauf`s appointment last April, the Air India
Board had appointed Arora and also Stefan Sukumar as the Chief
Training Officer on a hefty pay package. Sukumar put in his
papers recently after the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation raised objections to the status of license as CTO.

Baldauf was appointed at an annual salary package of
Rs three crore with the mandate to implement Air India`s
turnaround plan.

Soon after taking over, he had brought in Arora and
Sukumar, as also Kamaljeet Rattan from Reliance as the
airline`s Corporate Communication head.

After a meeting with the management and unions in
Mumbai last week, the Civil Aviation Minister had said that
the ministry would evaluate the performance of Air India top
management besides carrying out their performance review on a
regular basis.

He had said that expectations about rescuing the sick
company needed to be realistic and it cannot be done in a
short time.

Air India`s pilots union ICPA called for a strike on
March nine on several demands.

The ICPA and other unions have alleged that in the
last one year, the airline has doled out its profitable routes
to private carriers, resulting in the steep decline in its
market share.

With a market share of 15.8 per cent in January this
year, down from 18 per cent in the same period last year, the
flag carrier today stands at fourth position after Jet
Airways, Kingfisher and budget carrier IndiGo.

PTI

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