Air India CMSD Ashwani Lohani Terms Report On VRS Totally Baseless; Says the Airline Has No Such Plan Right Now
New Delhi, July 19: After reports of Air India planning to offer voluntary buyouts to just over a third of its 40,000 employees, Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani clarified on Wednesday that the report was totally baseless and there were no such plan right now of offering Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) to employees ahead of disinvestment. “Staff morale being affected is natural considering disinvestment talk, but we are a strong brand with strong staff”, a tweet by ANI quoted Lohani saying.
According to a report published by Reuters, the national carrier was planning to offer voluntary buyouts to just over a third of its 40,000 employees. Air India is on the block after the government last month approved plans to privatise the loss-making airline by selling part or all of the company and ending decades of state support. The report further added saying that the airline has been under a debt of $8.5 billion while since 2012, New Delhi has injected $3.6 billion to keep it afloat.
