The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Row over shifting Indian Airlines office

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Sunday, Nov 01, 2009
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Row over shifting Indian Airlines office

S. Anil Radhakrishnan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The reluctance on the part of a section of Indian Airlines (IA) personnel to move out is delaying the shifting of the IA office functioning at Mascot junction to the Air India (AI) building near Vellayambalam.

The decision to shift the office to the more spacious AI building was taken on the directive of the Executive Director, Southern Region, two weeks ago as part of the austerity measures and to have both offices under one roof.

Utter confusion prevails among the travelling public as the IA office in Mascot junction also sports Air India board following the merger of IA and AI into National Aviation Company of India Ltd., (NACIL) on August 27, 2007. Those coming in AI office have to go to Mascot junction for a ticket to fly on IA flights and vice versa.

IA and AI have separate reservation systems and they have not been integrated despite the merger, airline sources said. The flights are also operated under different codes – IC and AI – and the two airlines have separate sales and other departments.

Airline sources said the AI building was renovated at a cost of Rs.50 lakh during the tenure of V. Thulasidas as Chairman and Managing Director of the national carrier to take care of the future needs. Compared to the Mascot office, the four-storied building has better parking facilities.

Benefits

Bringing AI and IA offices under one roof will help the travelling public and will help NACIL to save money. Besides, the existing IA office can be used as a guesthouse for the staff of the NACIL.

As per the directive of the Executive Director, the computers from the IA office were even shifted to the AI building on October 23. They were later taken back the next day to the IA office. Reservation, Sales, Marketing, Accounts and Administration wings of IA function from the Mascot junction. The 14 personnel in the permanent roll of IA function from here in addition to the three contract security staff, one trainee and an IT employee on contract.

The sources said the IA building at Mascot junction constructed by the airline is yet to be registered. The airline has approached the Revenue Department for registration.

‘No proposal to wind up’

However, M. Jyothi Prakash, Station Manager, Thiruvananthapuram, said there was “no proposal to wind up the office of the Indian Airlines functioning at Mascot junction.”

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