Air India gives salary increments to staff; announces target performance bonus for pilots

Air India on Thursday announced annual salary increments for its staff, and also introduced an annual target performance bonus for pilots, according to sources.

This is the first appraisal process after Tata Group took over the loss-making airline a little over two years ago.

On Thursday, Air India CHRO Ravindra Kumar GP announced salary increments for employees, with effect from April 1, 2024, as well as performance bonus payouts for FY 2023-24 based on company and individual performance, sources said.They said that Air India, which is in the process of revamping itself under a five-year transformation plan, is providing competitive salary increments to attract and retain talent as part of larger efforts to have a performance-driven and meritocratic culture among the employees.

Air India has around 18,000 employees.The airline has rolled out annual appraisals for all employees, who joined before December 31, 2023, including ground staff, cabin crew and pilots. 

The appraisals are based on the new Performance Management System (Rise.AI).The range of overall increment could not be immediately ascertained.This is the first appraisal of Air India staff after the takeover by the Tata Group in January 2022. Last year, only compensation and contract restructuring for legacy employees were done, the sources said.

In addition to the increase in fixed pay for FY 2023-24, the sources said the airline has introduced a component of annual target performance bonus for its pilots based on company and individual performance, and it will be applicable from FY2024-25.

While announcing the appraisals, CHRO Kumar said that in the last financial year, the airline achieved key milestones of laying strong foundations for growth and transformation.

As part of the Vihaan.AI journey, the airline introduced the contemporary annual performance appraisal process Rise.AI and also transitioned to a simplified, market-competitive and productivity-oriented compensation structure for employees, he added.In late 2022, Air India announced the five-year transformation plan Vihaan.AI. Air India group has four airlines -- Air India, Air India Express, AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India) and Vistara. Air India Express is merging AIX Connect with itself, and Vistara will be merging with Air India.