Aerospace Diary

Neelam Mathews Oct 1, 2012 Just an update on my earlier post for those of our readers looking at travelling on Kingfisher. We hear all AMEs are on strike. Pilots too, have joined them. Mumbai airport terminal, where Kingfisher shares space with Air India,  is totally abandoned and wears a forlorn look. Even flights that had 75% load factors have been cancelled. As the management tries to rustle up engineers to operate some 14-15 flights, a staff member told us: “Nero fiddles while Rome burns......Mr Mallya is in France and the CEO is on vacation from Friday till Monday.” Source-Carnage and Culture

Does anybody care anymore?  From an AI engineer's point of view Neelam Mathews Sept 24, 2012 There is little doubt   there is dissatisfaction among the  ranks of the erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines engineers, upset with the formation of the MRO subsidiary for which they were not consulted nor made aware of where they would stand in seniority. Like it or not, this could become a safety issue. Interestingly, most of the engineers we spoke to, had little confidence the AI MRO would make money “especially with the high taxes “and the incapable Air India Engineering Management.” “Unless the MRO is handed over to a professional management, it will not be able to breakeven even after 10 years,” moans an engineer. VRS is not applicable for licensed category of employees like AMEs. There is trepidation that while the government  has promised to protect salaries and extend financial support to the MRO for the first three years, th...