New Delhi: It took a crippling cabin crew shortage for Air India to realize the extent to which it has been underutilizing its precious human resource.
Aviation safety rules stipulate that an airhostess pilot must stop flying as soon as she reports to the airline that she is pregnant. While all private airlines give women flight crew the option of shifting to ground duties, AI has all along been sending them on long maternity leave as soon as they report pregnancy.
It is only now that the AI management has reversed that policy and given its crew the option of ground duties like private airlines. But this change did not come easy. In recent months, AI has been facing an acute shortage of cabin crew. As a result of this, AI flights have been getting delayed. Things came to such a pass that aviation secretary V Somasundaran had to order the airline to immediately hire 800 cabin crew staffers.
"We have 3,000 cabin crew members, mainly airhostesses. On paper that number was sufficient and should not have caused flight delays. While examining the issue threadbare, we found that our maternity leave system was flawed. Directorate General of Civil Aviation rules stipulate that a cabin crew can't perform her duties as airhostess when she reports pregnancy. AI used to send them on long maternity leave as there was no option of ground duties," said a senior AI official.
14/02/15 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
Aviation safety rules stipulate that an airhostess pilot must stop flying as soon as she reports to the airline that she is pregnant. While all private airlines give women flight crew the option of shifting to ground duties, AI has all along been sending them on long maternity leave as soon as they report pregnancy.
It is only now that the AI management has reversed that policy and given its crew the option of ground duties like private airlines. But this change did not come easy. In recent months, AI has been facing an acute shortage of cabin crew. As a result of this, AI flights have been getting delayed. Things came to such a pass that aviation secretary V Somasundaran had to order the airline to immediately hire 800 cabin crew staffers.
"We have 3,000 cabin crew members, mainly airhostesses. On paper that number was sufficient and should not have caused flight delays. While examining the issue threadbare, we found that our maternity leave system was flawed. Directorate General of Civil Aviation rules stipulate that a cabin crew can't perform her duties as airhostess when she reports pregnancy. AI used to send them on long maternity leave as there was no option of ground duties," said a senior AI official.
14/02/15 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
No comments:
Post a Comment