Air India JV won't employ its surplus staff

Air India-Singapore Airport Terminal Services, the ground handling arm of the state-owned carrier, will hire 90 per cent of its workforce on contract to start operations at the new terminal of the Delhi airport, according to a senior Air India official. AISATS is a 50:50 profit sharing joint venture between AI and the Singapore-based company. The airline selected SATS as its partner in September 2008.

"AISATS will hire 90 per cent of their people on contract and will take the rest from Air India. Hiring employees on contract is 50 per cent cheaper for the subsidiary than taking them from Air India," said the official on condition of anonymity.

The joint venture operates at Bangalore and Hyderabad airports, with a staff strength of around 1,500, and will start operations at the Delhi airport after the new terminal comes into existence. It is to handle flights of Air India, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, Emirates and Dragon Air, totalling 203 flights per week.

Currently, 300 people do ground handling for Air India and they will be adjusted in various other departments of the airline. "Out of the 300 people, 50 will be taken now and the rest might be taken at a later stage. Our employees will work as supervisors and managers," said the official.

Earlier, AISATS had plans to pick people from Air India, thus reducing the number of people in the airline. The carrier is overstaffed, with around 31,000 employees and has 130 aircraft.

To start with, the subsidiary plans to hire 500 people on contract. The company will be allowed to offer ground handling services at six major airports  after the ground handling policy is implemented next year. According to the policy, only three agencies will be allowed to do ground handling.