A recent media report indicated that the assessment of over 7,000 employees have been completed With the Air India-Vistara merger in progress.
Air India – Vistara Merger, Assessment of 7000 Employees
This process holds a great significance as these employees’ roles will be clear by the end of June, said the sources on Monday.
Prior to this, the Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson along with Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan held a one-and-a-half-hour long town hall meeting with the employees of both carriers about the proposed merger on Monday.
Further, Wilson said the merger is expected to be completed by year-end, during this phygital meeting.
As of date, Air India and Vistara have more than 23,500 employees together.
More than 7,000 staff have been assessed and their fitment will be completed in June, according to Wilson.
By that time, fitment or broadly the roles and responsibilities of these employees, including the flying staff, will be clear, said the sources.
Work In Progress
The process has already started with around 120 pilots being seconded between Vistara and Air India, and the movement of employees will continue between the two carriers through secondment.
Here, secondment refers to sending staff of one airline to another airline.
Sources said that they are ensuring the fairness and transparency of this process and informed the staff that the organization structure has been finalized with the help of a global consulting firm, leveraging benchmarking and learning from the overall airline industry.
They have also considered the plans for fleet expansion, network growth and enhanced service over the next few years while deciding on the organization structure.
Besides this they have also assured that the fitment or assignment of existing employees into the new structure is being done on the basis of merit and competency.
It is noteworthy here that the employees of the combined airline will benefit from being part of the combined Air India Group with a vision of an accelerated growth path and a stable financial foundation, Wilson said.
As far as the merger is concerned, it is still awaiting the nod from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in India.
Singapore’s competition regulator CCCS gave a conditional nod for the proposed merger during March this year.
Moving ahead, this deal received approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI), subject to certain conditions in September 2023.
Earlier, Tata Group took over the reins of loss-making Air India during January 2022.
