With the Air India-Vistara merger all set to happen, Air India has offered two schemes to its non-flying employees. The voluntary retirement scheme or VRS is open to those permanent non-flying employees who have been with Air India for at least five years. The voluntary separation scheme or VSS, on the other hand, is offered to employees who have not yet completed five years of service with the airline.
These schemes do not come as a surprise. The airline’s management had, in recent communications, informed employees about potential job redundancies due to the merger. To mitigate job losses, the Tata Group had decided to offer alternative roles through upskilling and redeployment of employees within other group companies.
This is not the first time that Air India has rolled out a VRS. In March 2024, Air India had let go of over 180 non-flying staff members. The impacted employees were those who failed to utilise the opportunities to avail of the voluntary retirement schemes (VRS) or reskill themselves.
On 13 May, 2024, all the employees of both the airlines were addressed by Campbell Wilson, chief executive officer, Air India and Vinod Kannan, chief executive officer and chief integration officer, Vistara in a phygital townhall meeting. About 23,500 employees in total, were a part of the meeting where they were updated about the progress of the deal so far and what lies ahead for the merged entity.
