Air India to Launch Summer Flights

Wednesday, 13th June 2012 at 02:09am

The flag carrier would soon resume services to canceled destinations and launch new schedules this summer following the stabilization of its operations.

India's Aviation Minister clarified on Wednesday that the airline is not keen on resuming service if the striking pilots find the recommendations on the Dharmadhikari report unacceptable to them, among others, the amalgamation of staff of both pre-merger Air India and Indian Airlines.

The Minister said that according them the standoff is over. The ball is in their hands now. It's up to them (striking pilots) if they accept the report contained in Dharmadhikari, as part of the carrier's restructuring plan, or not. If they chose not to accept the recommendations then they can opt to walk away. If they want their jobs back, they need to reapply just like any other new applicants.

The announcement, tough as it is, was made in conjunction with the flag carrier's expansion plan amid the protesters' call for the reinstatement of the terminated pilots and the acknowledgment of IPG as they march along the streets of Delhi and Mumbai.

The minister maintained that the strike is illegal and should be stopped. The services have stabilized already in the past few days with the resumption of flights canceled before the strike. While there was confusion in the first few days of the standoff especially in the international operations, the domestic operations were also affected.

The load factor of the airline's domestic routes is now back to normal, reaching the pre-strike level at 26,000 per day. The international routes, although still reeling from the effect of the strike, managed to load 11,500 passengers a day. The figure is almost 3,000 fewer than the normal level before the strike.

This summer, the flag carrier is set to add new services in its international network, one of which is the Delhi-Kuala Lumpur route. It would also resume services to destinations canceled during the strike.

Air India's immediate plan is the acquisition of the modern fleet from Boeing, the 787 Dreamliners. The carrier is anticipating the delivery of three of this type of aircraft this month if the airline and Boeing will see eye to eye on issues arising from the delayed delivery of the planes. The aircraft shall be flying on domestic routes first in order to accustom the pilots to operate the new aircraft. Hopefully, by August, the aircraft will commence servicing long-haul flights, particularly the Mumbai-London route. Services to Australia will follow shortly after.

By: Pete Lee.