The final act of the Air India-Indian Airlines merger will be joining one of the three global alliances — Star Alliance, the largest; the Skyteam; or OneWorld. We are in dialogue with them.

Let me tell you, pilot-wise, engineer-wise, cabin crew-wise, we’re still the best. With an Air India captain, you’ll feel most comfortable flying through turbulence and landing on an airstrip. Despite being very old, our planes are maintained to very high standards of maintenance. We’ll keep improving, and you’ll have every reason, as Indians, to be proud of this airline.

SOURAV MAJUMDAR: Your entire plan depends on the merger itself. How do you plan to deal with employees who aren’t happy with the merger?

I don’t believe there’s any section that’s unhappy about the merger. I’ve had discussions with the Air India and Indian Airlines unions, along with Union Aviation Minister Praful Patel. None of the unions is against the merger. But they want to use the opportunity to project some of their demands for wage revision, payment of arrears etc. We’ve said, ‘Fair enough.’

As for name and identity, it had to be Air India, Indian Airlines, or another name. The government correctly thought a new name didn’t make sense, as you’d have to build the brand all over again. And since it’s going to be an integrated international airline, a globally known brand name is better. This was the advice Accenture, our consultant, gave us after a market survey. And look at the livery, the logo — there’s in fact more of Indian Airlines in it than Air India. It’s a merger of equals and I’m committed to ensuring there’s fairness and justice in placing people from both airlines in positions in the new one.

AKASH JOSHI: Two questions. How sound is the company financially? There’s talk that you’ll be raising money from the market for your expansion plans. Do you plan to go the IPO way?

Last year was a bad year for Air India, but last year was bad for all airlines in India without exception. But putting that one year aside, Air India has been profitable most years. Indian Airlines hasn’t been so. But the merged entity should have an overall positive balance. As far as funding is concerned, we’ve always borrowed money for buying aircraft and repaid without a single default so far. Our credit rating in the international market is very high. Air India — and for that matter Indian Airlines — only has to float an inquiry for raising debt, and we get it. We had no issues in procuring funds for buying 68 aircraft for Air India and 43 for Indian Airlines. An IPO, of course, is being contemplated and a consultant has been appointed. If the merger had not happened, we’d have gone in for the IPO by now. But we now think it best to go to the market as a combined entity.

LALITHA SRINIVASAN: What about your advertising plans to build the brand? You see commercials of Singapore Airlines etc and feel like flying them. Compared to that, you aren’t giving importance to advertising.

I agree. But what we’ve done in the last month and a half is more than what we’ve done in the last 10-15 years. We need to sustain the tempo and can’t come in with a burst and then disappear. We went for print ads initially, we’re working on television commercials, radio commercials. We are working on a signature tune and are trying to get someone in India who is really good to do a signature tune for us.

SHEKHAR GUPTA: His initials are ARR.

(Laughs) We haven’t yet tied up with anyone; we’re in dialogue with people. But you may rest assured the brand building of Air India will continue and will be maintained. It may not be on the lines of Singapore Airlines or some other airline . . . we’re still not that big. But we have print ads coming out in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal. And we have a hoarding in Times Square, New York. There are firsts for Air India.

LEKHA AGARWAL: How soon will the legal merger take place?

After the merger announcement, August 8 was the last date for various parties to file objections. Now the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has to give its final order and we have to register it. Then, the real merger starts — integration of operations, networks, rescheduling of timings. Our consultants estimate that will take 12-18 months.

CHANDRASHEKHAR KULKARNI: You said privatisation of airports was not a problem, but the privatisation of Air India? In every PSU, employees seem to fear privatisation.

We don’t own Air India, so the owner decides whether he want to sell it or not. I have no views on that. My job is to run Air India, whether it’s a public, private, or semi-private or whatever entity.

As for fears, if you look at the biggest wealth creator on the Mumbai Stock Exchange, it’s the public sector. I believe a public sector airline can run efficiently and profitably and we’d like to show the world it can be done.

NAMRATA SHARMA ZAKARIA: What three things about Air India would you like to change when you compare it to any other top international airline?

The aircraft, and the on-time performance. These two are obvious. I don’t think I need to go into a third.

AMBREEN KHAN: In terms of aviation companies, what’s the benchmark or role model Air India is following?

My role model for Air India is the Air India of old . . . everyone knows that the Air India of the fifties and sixties was one of the finest in the whole world.

CHANDRASHEKHAR KULKARNI: Is there any plan to revive the Maharaja or any other mascot?

The Maharaja will remain our mascot. We’d like to improve on the Maharaja, but without it losing its authenticity. I believe the Maharaja is one of the best things that has happened to India as a mascot. We’ve done away with the centaur, except on top of our building — that’ll take some time. We have brought in a new logo, but the Maharaja we’re absolutely retaining.

ARUN BEHL: What’s the state of industrial relations in Air India and how do you propose to improve it so that we don’t have strikes?

In the last three and a half years, there’s been no strike in Air India and only one in Indian Airlines. I’ve made it clear to my employees — pilots or cabin crew or anyone — the future of the company is for you to decide. If you want to take it up, you can do that. If you want to take it down, you can do it without my help. And if you want to take it up and need the wherewithal — aircraft, a wider network etc — those things are now getting ready for you.

MAHESH MHATRE: Is there any policy for recruitment of tribals as air-hostesses?

As a PSU, we’re bound by the government’s reservation policies and we do recruit tribal boys and girls as cabin crew. Some special recruitment drives were carried out in the last few months for north-eastern tribals, as a lot of airlines are recruiting from that belt. I’ve worked in the north-east for a long time and have a personal commitment to the region. But yes, we’ll encourage as many tribals as possible to join Air India.

NEETI MEHRA: How does one routinely attract the best talent, as we see private airlines do? After the merger, how do you plan to streamline? Will there be a freeze on recruitments or will you be recruiting more?

I thought we had the best talent, in any case. We’ve been hearing of poaching (by other airlines). Not many Air India people have left; they’re solidly with us, and we continue to be one of the best paymasters in many categories. But I agree we need to bring in better talent in management — management graduates, chartered accountants, cost accountants. There’s been a shortage of pilots because of the sudden and phenomenal growth in the aviation sector in the country. But lots of Indians are going abroad, getting pilot training and coming back to get recruited. Gradually the shortage will disappear. As for integration, as I told you, it will take place in phases.

SOURAV MAJUMDAR: You’re a public sector company in a service-focussed industry that’s globalising at a rapid pace. How do you look at issues of autonomy?

A company should be able to manage itself. Its board of directors and top management should be able to manage its affairs or they have no business to be there and should be dismissed. Once they are in, they should be given functional autonomy. Give them targets, hold them accountable, and if they don’t deliver, fire them.

SHEKHAR GUPTA: Contrary to what many people say, I still prefer to fly Air India whenever I get the chance. But I have a couple of issues with it. In 10 years of doing this, I’ve never once been able to raise your person at the other end of the phone to check if my (night) flight is late or whatever. It’s a 100 per cent record! I like to fly Air India because you have many interesting people, interesting pilots. But I find that over the years, the moment they see a journalist, they start complaining . . . ‘We get paid so little, the government does nothing, they’re finishing this airline.’ There’s a lot of it now. And as the flag carrier of the Government of India, you have some real freebees for the government. Your one-plus-one scheme is designed to rob the taxpayer so that senior officers, ministers, MPs will buy a full fare, first-class ticket and take their spouse and others along free. This robs the taxpayer, on the one hand, and gives an unfair reward to Sarkar-e-Hind on the other.

For us, as an airline, this is a great marketing initiative. Even though we carry two passengers, compared to the market price, we’re getting paid for both.

SHEKHAR GUPTA: But the government’s paying for them.

I’m not disputing that. All I’m saying is that, as an airline, it’s good marketing for us. I wouldn’t like to comment on the government part of it, because I’m on this side of the fence now. But I’ll take note of what you said about the telephone; it’s a frequent complaint. We’ve introduced call centres, but that hasn’t brought about the desired improvement. On staff complaints, let me say that when Air India recruited expats as pilots, I had no problem: we didn’t have to pay them any more than what we pay our own pilots. So that shows the kind of salaries we pay.

SHEKHAR GUPTA: Two gentlemen in the most important corporate positions in the financial world in Mumbai, Mr Thulasidas and Mr Damodaran (SEBI chairman M. Damodaran), both come from the IAS and from a small state cadre, Tripura. This is a state traditionally run by Marxists, so there must be something in this tiny Marxist state. Mr Damodaran is a football fan. What about you?

I used to play tennis, but I like watching football when I get time. The only other thing I do is reading. And yes, I spent a long time in Tripura . . . I was chief secretary for eight and a half years and that, I believe, is a record.

SHEKHAR GUPTA: Do you want to say some words about the Chief Minister?

Tripura had people like Nripen Chakraborty (as CM). I don’t think I can find a finer politician than him anywhere. He was chief minister for two terms and after that he didn’t have a single rupee.

SHEKHAR GUPTA: He was the only Chief Minister who made tea for me.

After he ceased to be a Chief Minister, he used to ask us for money. We thought he wasn’t being paid by his party or whoever was supposed to look after him. But the money he used to ask of us was for poor people who came to him for help. He was that kind of a man. I found a lot of commitment, dedication, integrity. It was almost as if Nripen Chakraborty was married to his job. He wasn’t married, of course; he was a bachelor. And he died at the age of 95 or 96. Then I worked with Dasharath Deb, and the present Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.

(Transcribed by Lekha Agarwal and Benjamin Martin. This is an abridged version. Complete text available at www.indianexpress.com)