New Delhi, Jan 19 (PTI): Air India is doling out free air tickets to its 24,000 employees, even as it expects to incur a loss of Rs 3,900 crore this financial year and has a debt burden of Rs 35,000 crore.

While its top officers like functional directors and joint managing directors are entitled to get 24 free tickets each year, deputy general managers and above get 20 passages under a scheme called Passage Entitlement-Vacation Travel.

Those in the category of assistant general managers and senior AGMs having less than 20 years of service can avail 12 such tickets and those above 20 years can get 16.The remaining staffers, who have put in between one and 20 years of service, are entitled to eight free tickets and 12 for those beyond 20 years.

Half of these tickets can be used for international travel, according to the scheme which also makes it clear that the number of such staff-on-leave passage would be determined by the airline's commercial department.

The scheme comes at a time when the national carrier is estimating a loss of Rs 3,900 crore in 2013-14, though it is down from Rs 5,200 crore reported in 2012-13 and Rs 7,560 crore posted the year before. The airline is also faced with a whopping debt burden of Rs 35,000 crore.

While retired employees can avail this facility on par with what they were getting at the time of superannuation, the scheme also provides that "in exceptional circumstances" an employee could use a maximum of four of his or her own passages for travel of brothers, sisters, son-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Prior to their 2007 merger, senior officials of the two erstwhile carriers used to enjoy unlimited domestic travel, which has now been discontinued.