July 02, 2015

When I joined Air-India in January 1957, I had visions of foreign postings and good living.  Imagine my disappointment when I was placed in the Tariffs Division after one month at the Ticket Counter in the Bombay office.  Long hours of working on fares, prorates and rules was my fate.

I met Mr. N.V. Khote (then Sales Manager) in the elevator one day and he said that he had learnt that I was not happy with my assignment.  He then told me that what I was doing was learning the “guts of the business” and my future would be assured provided I gave “my all” to this assignment.

In February 1960, three years after joining the airline, I accompanied Mr. Malani (Tariffs Manager) to London for a meeting with BOAC (now British Airways) to prepare for Air-India’s operations to the USA starting in May that year.  Resulting from the meeting, I left for NYC on Feb 21 to file a Tariff with the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board and returned after 6 weeks.  It took longer than I expected because the Filing Agent that I was supposed to work with came to office only when he was sober and that was not too often.

On my return, I got a call from Mr. Dubash (then Planning Controller) who thanked me for the work done.  This was my first communication with him and I felt on top of the world.  He was my bosses’ boss and I was a lowly Asst. Station Superintendent, but a congratulatory call from him went a long way.

Talk about motivation!!!

During my career with AI, I received quite a few similar congratulatory calls and appreciations.  I will not list them here but may refer to them in future Posts if they become relevant.  Suffice to say, until 1979, I always felt motivated and energized.  All this changed when the politicians and bureaucrats took over the running of the airline. 

Many persons have stated that the rot set in when Mr. JRD Tata was removed from the Chairmanship in 1978.  I personally believe it set in before that event and was triggered by an approach made by a top management executive to get an extension in service.  It was this issue that was picked upon by the mandarins in Delhi to get their scheming hands on the airline.  Mr. Tata’s departure made it easier for them to start their machinations as we had lost the solid bulwark that had kept the wolves at bay.

Nari Dastur took early retirement in 1978.  Some say that he saw the writing on the wall.  However, while this may be true, I also believe that he left because Mr. KG Appusamy was appointed as Managing Director and Mr. Dastur saw that his way to the top was blocked.

Mr. Appusamy certainly saw the writing on the wall.  We had gone through a rather harrowing time with the Inquisition by the Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) and the bureaucrats in the Ministry took this opportunity to ask us for meetings at the drop of a hat.  It seemed that hardly a week passed without summons from Delhi.

He and I had were returning on a flight back one day and he said to me “Inder, I suggest you look for another job”.  I asked if I was being sacked and he replied “No, the culture is changing and I don't believe you will fit in”.  He put in his papers the next week and left the airline.

The Government appointed Mr. B.S. Das to replace Mr. Appusamy.  Although Mr. Das had no direct airline experience, he certainly came with a background of the Industry having been the Chairman of the Airports Authority and if memory serves me correctly, he did serve on Air-India’s Board.  I had met him at various meetings and was very pleasantly surprised when within a few weeks of his coming on board, I established a good rapport with him.

When I apprised him of my conversation with Mr. Appusamy, he tried to allay my fears stating that the situation had somewhat stabilized and with Air Chief Marshal P.C. Lal as Chairman and himself as the M.D., he was confident that the airline would be allowed to function on a commercial basis. There was definitely a basis for his remarks because of some incidents which I will relate here:

1. A few meetings with Ministry officials were now held in Bombay instead of Delhi and the trips to Delhi became quite infrequent.
2. Mr. Pushottam Kaushik, the new Civil Aviation Minister wanted to review some decisions that we had made.  Some disgruntled parties had indicated to him that these decisions were based on favoritism and not commercial considerations.  He personally went through each case and I remember accompanying him to a meeting with Indian Travel Agents in the U.K. who had complained about the appointment of our GSA.  He held talks with a number of them and then told me that he did not see any reason for us to make any change.

     Talking of this trip of Mr. Kaushik brings back many happy memories which I will relate when the moment is right.

1. We had decided to publish an In-flight magazine and were looking for suitable publishers. Mr. Naik, the then Civil Aviation Secretary, wanted us to appoint his son.  Mr. Das and I agreed to defer this project until Mr. Naik retired and very soon after this event took place, we revived the project.
2. Mr. Naik also wanted us to use a hotel in Bandra for our transit passengers.  This hotel was owned by a close friend and drinking buddy of his and so I visited this hotel on more than one occasion and gave Mr. Naik a report on the poor conditions and maintenance that were prevalent, whereby he withdrew his “request”.

D. The powers that be “asked” us to examine a proposal to purchase four (4) 747 aircraft and   my Note to Mr. Das detailing reasons why we should not accept this proposal was accepted by him and the persons concerned in Delhi were so advised.

Unfortunately, as will be seen later, this subject was revived when the Congress Government came back into power in early 1980.