Tata-owned Air India has made the announcement for the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for its non-flying staff. This is the second such offer made by the company since January 2022. Now, airlines on Monday have extended the last date to apply for the voluntary retirement scheme till May 31, as per sources.However, the date of acceptance of the application and the date of release would continue to be dependent on the managements discretion. Air India has asked its employees to get in touch with the human resources department for further clarifications on the same.“This is about the Organizational Announcement dated 17 March 2023 on the subject. In this regard, please note that the last date to apply for Voluntary Retirement in terms of the above Organizational Announcement for all the eligible employees has been extended till 31 May 2023,” the notification read.When Tata Sons won the bidding to purchase Air India in January 2022, it had stated that it would keep all staff for one year and VRS if it later wants to implement cost-cutting measures.According to the sources, the company announced the voluntary retirement scheme for its non-flying staff in March. The date that was declared initially was March 17 to April 30, 2023, to apply for the scheme. Reportedly, there are 2,100 employees, who are eligible for the scheme, which includes permanent general cadre officers over the age of 40 and clerical and unskilled staff who have worked with Air India for a minimum of 10 years.The first phase of VRS began operations in June 2022 with 11,000 flying and non-flying personnel. Personnel who could fly and those who couldnt were both eligible for the offer. At least 1,500 of the approximately 4,200 employees who were eligible at the time elected to retire, according to the report.The airline is launching the second part of the offer in response to employees requests to extend the voluntary retirement benefits to other permanent employees, an official added. Notably, Air India, last year in September announced Vihaan.AI, the transformation plan which focuses on various goals to be achieved over the next five years. The move has been taken by the airlines for sustained growth, profitability and market leadership.
