New Delhi/Singapore: Air India's new chief is betting an 'open door'
policy will help defuse years of soured relations with the flag
carrier's more than 20,000 staff, paving the way for potentially painful
change at the loss-making airline.
Ashwani Lohani, a 56-year-old engineer and tourism bureaucrat with no experience running an airline, describes his job as "the ultimate challenge".
Returning Air India to profit after almost a decade in the red would be a coup for a government that has vowed to cut losses, and whose prime minister built a track record of turning around state firms while running the state of Gujarat. But it will require unpalatable decisions from both a state apparatus reluctant to cede control and from Lohani.
Speaking in his New Delhi office, Lohani says he is starting from the ground up, with Air India's staff, as he grapples with a record of poor staff discipline, grumpy service and frequent delays.
"People in top leadership positions have a tremendous motivating power which they don't use," he said. "If I pat someone on the back and say 'do good work,' he will do it."
Earlier this month, Lohani launched a regular hour-long 'open door' session, when any of Air India's employees, from pilots to flight mechanics and baggage handlers, can drop in.
But company insiders say that has to be the precursor for tougher decisions, including a reassessment of a heterogenous, and costly, inherited fleet, as well as cuts to unprofitable routes and staff, something the government will need to support.
Read news in full 14/10/15 Reuters/Economic Times
Ashwani Lohani, a 56-year-old engineer and tourism bureaucrat with no experience running an airline, describes his job as "the ultimate challenge".
Returning Air India to profit after almost a decade in the red would be a coup for a government that has vowed to cut losses, and whose prime minister built a track record of turning around state firms while running the state of Gujarat. But it will require unpalatable decisions from both a state apparatus reluctant to cede control and from Lohani.
Speaking in his New Delhi office, Lohani says he is starting from the ground up, with Air India's staff, as he grapples with a record of poor staff discipline, grumpy service and frequent delays.
"People in top leadership positions have a tremendous motivating power which they don't use," he said. "If I pat someone on the back and say 'do good work,' he will do it."
Earlier this month, Lohani launched a regular hour-long 'open door' session, when any of Air India's employees, from pilots to flight mechanics and baggage handlers, can drop in.
But company insiders say that has to be the precursor for tougher decisions, including a reassessment of a heterogenous, and costly, inherited fleet, as well as cuts to unprofitable routes and staff, something the government will need to support.
Read news in full 14/10/15 Reuters/Economic Times
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