Bloated, bleeding and on life support, the ailing Maharajah of Indian aviation facing workers’ wrath for delayed salaries, is trying to hire Aamir Khan, the country’s costliest celebrity brand ambassador.
Air India sources said though the decision has been taken internally, the airline is yet to approach the actor; so, issues about compensation are yet to be finalised. Officials said the aim is to regain traffic lost to carriers like IndiGo and SpiceJet.
According to sources, Khan charges around R14-15 crore per endorsement annually while rival Shah Rukh Khan charges around R7-8 crore per brand.
It remains to be seen how Air India will manage to pay his fees considering it does not have money to pay its employees and meet day-to-day expenditures on time.
Air India also wants to engage celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor for developing its in-flight menu.
Air India has a total loan of over R42,000 crore and accumulated losses of nearly R22,000 crore. Nearly 31,000 of its employees have not been paid salaries since November and allowances are held up since September. Airline officials said the airline has started paying lower level staff and shortly, all employees would get their salaries due for November.
?Aamir Khan hiked his endorsement rates two-years ago after the release of his hit film 3 Idiots,? says the head of a leading celebrity consultancy firm. Khan currently endorses brands like Tata Sky, Samsung, Samsung Mobile, Unicef and Atithi Devo Bhava, a campaign for the tourism ministry.
?On paper, a campaign for Air India works well with the concept of Atithi Devo Bhava campaign.
It could work well for the airline if they can persuade Khan to work for free or at a much lower fee,? said the executive quoted earlier. Khan is working for free for the Atithi Devo Bhava campaign, which is designed to compliment the Incredible India campaign run by the ministry of tourism globally. He is best known for his numerous television commercials with soft drinks major Coca-Cola along with his Tata Sky commercials.