Focus on work, not bouquets: AI chief

MUMBAI: Air India chief Ashwani Lohani on Monday told airline staffers to cut down on ‘petty courtesies’ and focus on work. In a note, he said that a large number

MUMBAI: Air India chief Ashwani Lohani on Monday told airline staffers to cut down on ‘petty courtesies’ and focus on work. In a note, he said that a large number of employees abandon work to receive and see him off during visits to offices across the country and inundate him bouquets.

HT Image

“This culture has to end. Emphasis in the organisation has to be on work and work alone and not on petty courtesies. While bouquets shall be a big no from now on, only minimal officials should receive or see me off at airports,” the note said.

Lohani responded to HT’s text query on it with a smiley.

In a bid to inculcate professionalism in the airline the management had recently stopped flight crew from being paired with their spouse, siblings and children on same flights.

But the CMD’s note took many Air India’s staffers by surprise.

“Even recently when the airline was on a cost-cutting spree we have seen on-board crockery change with change in the top brass. Hopefully, the move would end the ‘ji-hazoori culture’ in the company,” said a senior AI official requesting anonymity. Sources said Lohani’s move made his functioning look quite similar to the way founder JRD Tata ran it.