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Hunt on for Indian Airlines top gun

Indian Airlines chairman and managing director Anil Baijal will complete his tenure on May 26 and report to the Home Ministry after a two-month long leave which has been sanctioned, official sources said today.

An official order on Wednesday said that Baijal would complete his one-and-a-half year tenure at the top post in the airlines and would be on leave from May 29 to July 28, the sources said.

The chairman and managing director's post has till now been a transit station for joint secretaries. Sources said the battle for succession to the coveted post had started and the name of another joint secretary in the Civil Aviation Ministry was doing the rounds.

However, the government may not find it difficult to make an appointment in view of the strictures passed recently by the Committee of Public Undertakings on appointing a chairman-cum-managing director or chief executive of a public sector undertaking, according to the sources.

While Baijal's tenure in the airline had been reasonably successful with the domestic carrier making a profit of about Rs 500 million in the current financial year, he displeased various sections of employees for being instrumental in rolling back the retirement age to 58 years from 60.

The sources said with the airlines at the cross-roads facing privatisation and fleet renewal, it was imperative that the government selected a suitable professional to head the airlines.

UNI

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