Air India crew can pick up planes they want to fly on from Thursday

india

Updated: Jun 06, 2019 10:47 IST

Air India cabin crew can choose flights through an online bidding system every month, starting from Thursday.

The debt-ridden airline has taken the decision in order to retain their cabin crew, said an airline official. An Air India spokesperson said, “The move will make our crew happy which will indirectly lead to happier passengers.”

According to AI official, the portal will be opened for bidding from 8am on Thursday till 8am on Saturday. A circular issued by the airline said that crew operating Airbus, Boeing 747 and 777, can select a flight in their home base or any sector of their choice on a first-come, first-served basis.

“The portal will be opened on the sixth of every month for two days,” said the official.

However, Mohan Ranganathan, aviation expert, said, “This new system will only help if the airline follows it strictly and allots flights accordingly.”

Based on the aircraft operated by a crew, the airline has allowed a maximum of 12 hours of flying on preferred flights for Airbus fleet crew, 20 hours for crew operating Boeing 747 aircraft and 36 hours for crew operating a Boeing 777 aircraft, which is mostly used on international flights.

Meanwhile, crew members said that the move was of no use as they would rarely fly such flights for two more days.

A senior cabin crew said, “Airbus crew will exhaust their flight preferences in two days after which they will have to follow the roster.”