Tata Group-owned, Air India is offering a voluntary retirement scheme for its non-flying staff. This is the second time the company is offering VRS to employees.
The airline is accepting the offer for voluntary retirement till April 30. The chief human resources Suresh Dutt Tripathi of Air India has sent a communication to the staff.
The communication said, “The employees who apply for voluntary retirement from 17th March 2023 to 30th April 2023 will also be provided with an ex-gratia amount as a one-time benefit.
“Eligible employees who apply up to 31st March 2023 will receive Rs 1 lakh over and above the ex-gratia amount,” the communication added.
The employees eligible for voluntary retirement are:
- Firstly, the employees in the administrative and unskilled categories who have served continuously for at least five years are eligible.
- Secondly, the employees are permanent general cadre officers who have reached the age of 40 or older and have served the airline for a minimum of five years continuously.
The reports suggest that a total of around 2,100 employees will be eligible to avail of the latest voluntary retirement offer. The airline has an employee strength of 11,000 people including flying and non-flying staff.
First Phase Voluntary Retirement Scheme
During the first phase earlier in June 2022, Air India was offering Voluntary Retirement Scheme to its thousands of employees who have completed 55 years of age or 20 years of continuous service in the company.
During this duration, the airline reduced the VRS age eligibility from 55 years to 40 years for cabin crew members who are in grades “S-3, S-5, S-7, E-0, E-1, E-2, E-3, E-4, and E-5”, clerical and allied staff who are in grades “S-2, S-5, S-6, and S-7” and unskilled employees who are in grades “S-1, S-2, S-3, S-4, and S-5”.
Earlier, The airline was trying that employees to come forward and take the option, and also for some sections of employees company is offering additional benefits to lower the retirement age.
Recently, the Airline also announced its plans to hire over 4200 cabin crew trainees and 900 pilots in 2023 as the airline adds new aircraft and rapidly expands its domestic and international operations.
