Air India Pilots' Protest Now On Its 17th Day

Thursday, 24th May 2012 at 03:02am

The strike started by the pilots of Air India is now on its 17th day, causing a massive loss of Rs270 crore to the airline. According to an Air India official, this amount is calculated from ticket calculations, grounded fleets of aircrafts and unused labour. He added that the company has already devised a contingency plan that will to minimize their losses at the very least.

The management of Air India claimed that they have enough pilots who are not part of the protest, which could operate long distance flights to the United States and Europe. They also have issued provisional schedule that considered the importance of each destinations, the load factor, and the economics. The airline is currently operating minimum number of US- and Europe-bound flights.

Mr. Ajit Singh, the head of the Civil Aviation Ministry, has requested the pilots to go back to their work. Even though he guaranteed that no there would be no more victimization, the pilots guild refused such offer. This is why the Air India had to come up with their provisional schedule.

Due to the prioritization of US and Europe flights, the airline dropped international flights to Toronto, Seoul, Osaka, and Hong Kong. In addition, out of their normal 45 scheduled flights, only 38 will operate. This will be in effect from 2nd to 30th day of June.

Last Wednesday, Singh announced that the reinstatement of the 101 dismissed pilots will be decided on a case-to-case basis. As of today, there's one pilot who was already rehired. The first step to be considered is that the pilots must first go back to work unconditionally; but the pilots want to have it their way, saying that they will end their protest only after the management begins reinstating their dismissed colleagues and reviews the issues they have against the company. The Pilots' Guild member Rohit Kapahi said that they are ready for negotiations but their conditions must be satisfied first.

To review, the conflict started earlier this month, on May 8 in particular. On that day, the members of the Indian Pilots Guild filed mass sick leave after the Air India decided to give training on Boeing-787 aircraft to the pilots of the former Indian Airlines. The Air India pilots demand exclusive training for that aircraft, as well as payments for the 2007 debts, first-class travel privileges, and also the right to achieve the position of commander within six years.

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