Fund crunch? Air India willing to pay new COO Rs 3 cr

The Austrian national will join Air India next month. He is currently executive vice-president (flight Operations) with Austrian Airlines .

By Nirbhay Kumar, ET Bureau | Apr 08, 2010, 11.04 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Loss-making national carrier Air India may be struggling to pay its 31,000-strong staff salaries, but it has opened its purse strings to fork out about Rs 3 crore to its chief operating officer (COO), Gustav Baldauf.

The Austrian national will join Air India next month. He is currently executive vice-president (flight Operations) with Austrian Airlines . Baldauf could be appointed as COO only after statutory clearances from various government agencies as he is a foreign national.

“The management has indicated an annual approximate remuneration of Rs 3 crore to the COO,” an airline official said. “The chairman will negotiate the pay package,” he said, requesting anonymity.

Only 170 executives in India Inc drew more than Rs 3 crore in the financial year ended March 2009. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Sun TV’s Kalanidhi Maran and telecom czar Sunil Mittal are among the highest paid executives in India.

“We have to get back to the board after (finalising) compensation package,” Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav said. A sub-committee chaired by civil aviation secretary MM Nambiar interviewed three applicants for the post of Air India COO and selected the Austrian Airline executive for the key job.

“Baldauf was the only executive who had experience of working in Indian environment. This gave him an edge over other candidates,” said an airline executive, who asked not to be named. Baldauf will look after the day-to-day operations of the loss-making carrier. He will implement the decisions of the strategic committees on finance, audit and human resources headed by independent directors.

Air Indiaposted a net loss of Rs 5,200 crore in 2008-09 and is expected to lose another Rs 5,400 crore the fiscal ended March 2010.

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