Air India appointments war intensifies

At Air India, battle lines have been drawn with the management on one side and others including the aviation ministry and board members on the on the other, over the issue of the controversial appointment of Pawan Arora as AI Express COO and some other new `expensive' inductees.

According to a top ministry official the airline has been advised "course correction," with the cancellation of the appointment of Arora.

According to aviation minister Praful Patel, though the management was empowered to take any decision regarding staff selection, he was sure a suitable decision would be taken in case of  any controversial appointment.

He added it was the question of an AI employee, and the management and board needed to take care of the issues.

The national carrier had recently appointed a COO for AI and AI Express on annual packages of Rs 3.1 crore and Rs 1.1 crore , respectively . It had made two additional appointments with annual package of about Rs50 lakh each. Arora's appointment has run into rough weather on an adverse report from a member of the government safety panel formed following the Mangalore crash.

Meanwhile, Air India's chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav is scheduled to meet the director general of Civil Aviation Nasim Zaidi on Saturday to discuss the controversy over appointment of Pawan Arora as COO.