Air India Assures No Layoffs Amid Cost Cuts

Air India executives assured employees that no layoffs are planned despite discussing aggressive cost-cutting measures at a recent board meeting, as the airline grapples with estimated losses exceeding 22,000 crore rupees for the fiscal year ending March 2026.

The board convened Thursday at the carrier's Gurugram headquarters, chaired by Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and attended by CEO Campbell Wilson and other members including Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong. Discussions, which lasted over three hours, centered on financial challenges and potential austerity steps such as furloughs for non-technical staff, deferred performance-linked bonuses, pay cuts for senior executives, and reductions in international flight capacity by more than 20 percent for the coming months. Sources familiar with the matter said these options were weighed amid rising operational costs but no final decisions were announced.

On Friday, Wilson, Chief Human Resources Officer Ravindra Kumar GP, and Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Sharma addressed roughly 24,000 employees in a town hall meeting. Wilson emphasized external pressures, stating, "We need to focus relentlessly on our costs in these...