Full-service carrier Vistara as part of its merger with Air India on July 29, 2024 has announced a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and voluntary separation scheme (VSS) for its permanent ground staff, a copy of the email sent to employees was seen by Moneycontrol.
As part of the email, the Tata Group airline said that its permanent ground staff with over five years of work experience with the airline are eligible to be a part of the VRS scheme.
The VRS scheme by Vistara comes just a couple of weeks after Air India announced a VRS along with a VSS for its non-flying permanent staff on July 18, 2024.
Emails sent to Vistara remained unanswered at the time of publishing.
A senior executive from Vistara told Moneycontrol that the VRS and VSS scheme launched on July 29, 2024 will be extended to around 1,200 employees out of which the airline is not expecting more than 200 employees to opt for the scheme.
"The VRS and VSS announced today is part of the Air India-Vistara merger process. It is not an ultimatum to Vistara's employees that they will not be a part of the merger process going forward the fitment committee involved in the merger process is in the process of finding a place for all employees," a senior Vistara executive said.
He added that around 90 percent of all Vistara employees have been given alternate jobs as part of the Air India merger, which is much higher than the industry average when it comes to airline mergers globally.
Air India has come out with three voluntary retirement scheme for its permanent employees since its privatisation two-and-a-half years ago.
Tata Group took over the reins of Air India in January 2022.
Earlier this month, media reports said that the Air India Vistara merger is expected to impact around 600 employees from the two airlines.
Tata Group-owned- loss-making full-service carriers -- Air India and Vistara -- together have more than 23,000 employees.
Vistara is a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Group.
Once the merger is complete, Singapore Airlines will have a 25.1 per cent stake in Air India.
The fitment exercise -- which involves the evaluation of the roles and responsibilities of staff of both airlines -- in the run-up to the merger has been going on for the past few months.
The exercise takes into account an individual's prior experience, performance and other factors.
As part of consolidating its airline business, Tata Group is also merging Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India).
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