Air India to Replace Pilots on Strike

Tuesday, 12th June 2012 at 01:28am

All 300 pilots who joined the strike are at the risk of losing their jobs permanently as the state-owned carrier has decided to hire new pilots in addition to its 111 executive pilots and 60 trainees. The original 27 international routes shall not only be reinstated but also get expanded.

The only consolation for the striking pilots, for now, is that they can reapply for the jobs. However, they need to follow the usual procedures most other applicants are required to do.

The month-long strike costs the already bleeding flag carrier Rs 350 crore. There have been 101, out of 300, striking pilots getting axed from their jobs.

Air India is set to normalize its international operations by November upon hiring new pilots. The original network of AI's international routes shall be restored by then, including flights to Hong Kong, Seoul, Toronto, and Osaka which were interrupted during the strike. Starting July, service to Hong Kong will start anew and, a month later, Osaka and Seoul will follow.

The number of international passengers traveling with Air India during the strike reached an average of 11,000 daily, or a decline of almost 3,000 before the strike, due mainly to the cancellation of some routes. The domestic passenger traffic, fortunately, was hardly affected by the strike reaching an average of 26,000 a day.

The striking pilots, according to Singh, will never be rehired if they don't accept the terms and conditions as indicated in the Dharmadhikari committee report. These pilots went into strike after they rejected the recommendations set in the Dharmadhikari committee report.

The Minister clarified that there will be no conciliation between the pilots and the airline as they defied government policy and even the high courts. The Delhi High Court, for instance, has called the strike illegal. He reiterated that they will hear the pilots' grievances only if they go back to work.

Minister Singh assured the public that their existing pilots have the necessary skills to fly the new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. In addition, he also announced that the state-run airline is adding more flights to Kuala Lumpur and Australia probably in the last quarter of this year.

The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner will be used to service the Mumbai-Kuala Lumpur route starting August. The same aircraft will also be used in its Mumbai-London service in August as well as its Australian operations, which will be launched sometime in August or September. The aircraft will be flying on domestic routes first for up to eight weeks before they are scheduled to fly international routes.

By: Pete Lee.