Air India has recast the jobs of its executive directors as it heads towards divestment. To harmonize its functioning, it removed its executive director (ED) AS Soman from the job of overseeing in-flight services.  In an order issued late last week, Air India chairman and managing director Rajiv Bansal directed Soman to take charge as ED, HQ, with immediate effect. AK Govil, who is the ED operations, has been given the additional charge of in-flight services. In another development, according to an airline official, the crucial crew management system (CMS) has been brought under the control of the ED integration, which till now was reporting to the ED operations. The CMS is an integrated tool for crew planning, including of the pilots, depending on the network plan and commercial schedule. Though no official reason has been cited for the surprise removal of Soman, which is the second for him in as many years, an insider said the transfer was due to some recurring tiffs between operations and in-flight services departments. Soman was made the ED of in-flight services from the training department during a major rejig at the state-owned carrier this March, after the then ED operations, AK Kathpalia was grounded for evading both pre and post-flight alcohol tests and subsequently, Govil was brought to the operations department from the in-flight services. Interestingly, this is the second time in the past two years that Soman's tenure at a particular post was cut short. In July 2015, he was removed as head of safety on the instructions from the regulator DGCA for failing to preserve flight monitoring data.