Allegations-hit Alliance Air acts ‘swiftly’, suspends whistleblower
Synopsis
After one of its senior executives levelled charges of financial impropriety, the airline has suspended him. The charges are very serious and this airline, which is struggling financially, must find answers quickly. The taxpayer’s money is on the line.
A few days after making public allegations of corruption against Alliance Air’s finance head, Ashish Kumar Mondal, the airline’s head of personnel and now a whistleblower, Vimal Tripathi, went to see the airline’s CEO, Vineet Sood. He expected a patient hearing. Instead, Tripathi has been suspended, with the airline stating that he should not have written to the aviation ministry before first discussing his allegations with the CEO. No action
( Originally published on Jun 01, 2024 )
A few days after making public allegations of corruption against Alliance Air’s finance head, Ashish Kumar Mondal, the airline’s head of personnel and now a whistleblower, Vimal Tripathi, went to see the airline’s CEO, Vineet Sood. He expected a patient hearing. Instead, Tripathi has been suspended, with the airline stating that he should not have written to the aviation ministry before first discussing his allegations with the CEO. No action has yet been initiated against Mondal. As Tripathi left the Alliance Air building after meeting CEO Sood, an airline official alerted him that someone had entered his cabin over the weekend and removed most of his files. Alarmed at the potential destruction of evidence, Tripathi obtained CCTV footage that he says shows finance executives, including Mondal, entering his room on June 8, two days after the complaint was filed, and dumping dozens of files in a trolley from his room. ET Prime too has seen the videos, but it cannot ascertain the identities of those taking the files. Alliance Air has formed an “internal committee” to investigate the charges. An Alliance Air spokesman said the internal committee, formed as per its protocol, will submit its report in the next three weeks. After that, if he wants to, Tripathi has the option to take this matter to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Now the conflict between Tripathi and Alliance Air has only intensified, with more employees coming out in his support. Om Prakash Soni, who heads the administration department and also reports directly to the CEO, has also sent an e-mail to the aviation secretary, complaining about Mondal’s "dictatorial attitude" and the atmosphere of "fear and abuse" that he has created. Soni alleges that promotions and annual increments were done at Mondal’s discretion, and that numerous retired Air India staff were hired under questionable circumstances. [ET Prime has reviewed a copy of the e-mail]. Mondal himself retired from Air India and is on a contract with Alliance Air. An executive with another department has also supported the views of Tripathi and Soni. Vandana Sharma, an assistant manager and senior cabin crew member with Alliance Air for 25 years, spoke to ET Prime, and said she saw Mondal speaking to Tripathi disrespectfully at a meeting at the Chief Labour Commissioner’s office in Delhi.Sharma was so shocked that she had to tell Tripathi at the same meeting: "You are the head of HR; you cannot be spoken to like that. How can someone dare to speak like this with you”? Tripathi, determined to pursue the matter fairly, has decided to go to court if necessary. “The CFO has been saying they will take away my job. I am an ex-defense employee, receiving a sufficient pension. I told him I don’t need the money," he told ET Prime. Tripathi has served in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and has worked with Jet Airways before joining Alliance Air two years ago. He had shared in detail his allegations in a June 6, 2024, letter to aviation secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam, joint secretary Asangba Chuba Ao, apart from Pranjol Chandra, director, ministry of civil aviation (MOCA) and Ajay Gupta, vigilance officer, Alliance Air. The letter alleges that Mondal has siphoned funds to the tune of INR55 lakh for his personal gains on the pretext of making a payment to the company’s SAP vendor by forging signatures of the IT head. The letter goes on to say that this was brought to the notice of the CEO by the IT head, but no action was taken against the CFO because of the patronage of the CEO.He also said in the e-mail that the CFO had got a huge salary increase without the approval of the board and has been putting pressure on him (Tripathi) to increase the salary of the deputy CFO without any approval.The CFO, Tripathi has alleged in his e-mail that, he has also allowed most of the vendors in engineering on a “nomination basis for his gainful purposes” or, in other words, without following tendering norms and using his discretion. After suspension, taking his fight to the next level, Tripathi sent a letter to Alliance Air, and listed down the names of all engineering firms that he says have been hired without proper tendering. These names include All Ways, Aviation Overseas, Vandana Aircrafts, Aavia Safe, Fly Big, Aman Aviation and Aerospace, Surya Cargo Forwarders, Divyanshi Aviation, Avibay Pvt Ltd, Innovative Aviation, Cabin Care, AirWorks India, FedEx, Heli Air Parts and Services Pvt Ltd, Ascend Aviation India, and Standard Arrow.Tripathi has also questioned the frequent engine changes and poor operational performance of the airline, alleging that in 2023, the airline’s ATR 72 aircraft had an average daily flying time of five hours and 37 minutes with 362 technical delays, which worsened in April 2024 to four hours and 51 minutes with 139 technical delays. Industry averages exceed 11 hours of flying with fewer incidents. The on-time performance (OTP) for May 2024 in four major metros was only 58%, the worst in the industry, according to DGCA data. Alliance Air also had the third highest cancellation rate of flights at 4% after Fly Big and Indianone Air. It also had the third highest number of consumer complaints at 5% after Fly Big and SpiceJet. These allegations come at a time when the airline is struggling to keep its relevance. When the airline goes to the aviation ministry with any new proposal it is told “you are under disinvestment”, says a senior airline official on the condition of anonymity. This official says the airline is also battling private-sector giants like IndiGo. Under the Udan scheme, the government allows airlines a monopoly on some regional routes for a few years and gives it some subsidy so that it can sustain its operations. Alliance Air thrives on developing routes where nobody wants to go. But the moment this exclusivity is over, private airlines place flights on those routes making Alliance Air operations unviable, most of the time. IndiGo, he says, has now deployed two flights on Delhi-Dharamshala route and has also indicated it will expand aggressively in regional routes and order dozens of more ATRs. Alliance Air also has had to invest heavily in new software, insurance and support services after its umbilical cord with Air India was cut, this has needed significant budgetary support despite holding only 1% market share and being slated for privatisation.As a result of all these factors, the regional carrier’s finances are in a shambles. It made a loss of around INR400 crore each in 2021-22 and 2022-23 on a top line of around INR1,200 crore. Alliance is expected to post a loss of around INR250 crore in the year ending March 2024. The government has allocated around INR3,000 crore till now to keep it afloat. This allocation is spread over two years and there is also the old Air India debt that must be paid back. With a delay in privatisation, no clarity on an alternative self-sustaining expansion road map, corruption allegations, employee discontent, a sudden fire that many fear has gutted engineering records, and now even CCTV footage being procured by one departmental head over the other and being shared with Delhi Police, Alliance Air will find the going tough.As for the ordinary taxpayers, who have to file their tax returns this month, there is little one can do except watch the drama unfold from a distance or more closely when flying this small, niche airline.