Mumbai, May 22: With no end in sight to the strike by a section of Air India pilots which entered the 15th day today, the airline management has extended its contingency plan of curtailed operations to June 1.
“The contingency plan that we have put in place has now been extended to June 1 from May 25,” Air India sources told PTI here.
Besides, the bookings are being accepted only for those flights which are being operated under the contingency plan, they said.
Under the plan, which Air India implemented on May 16 following the strike by its over 200 pilots owing allegiance to the now-derecognised Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), the national carrier is operating a bare minimum number of international operations by clubbing flights to destinations in Europe and the US.
Consequently, Air India continued operating a curtailed international schedule, flying seven West-bound flights instead of normal 16 daily flights.
The airline has so far lost more than Rs 250 crore due to the agitation by over 200-odd pilots, who have not been flying for the past 15 days despite the management terminating the services of 100-odd agitating pilots in last two weeks.
The government wants the pilots to first join back duties and then come to the negotiating table to resolve their issues, while the IPG maintains that the management should first take back all sacked pilots, as a pre-condition to end their agitation.
Trying to find a way out to resolve the deadlock, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh had met leaders of 10 recognised unions of Air India in Delhi yesterday and appealed to them to persuade the IPG to call off their agitation.
Meanwhile Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said today that striking Air India pilots have “not listened” to the continued appeals by the government to withdraw their agitation even though it has been promised that there would be no victimisation.
“I committed in the House that no victimisation would be done...but pilots are not listening. That is where the situation stands today,” he told the Rajya Sabha even as members from both sides expressed concern over the ongoing strike and its impact on passengers.
Maintaining that Air India's image has been “dented” by the strike, he said the stir has come during the peak season and at a time when its revenue had gone up to 35 per cent and ontime performance was improving.
Pointing out that the high court has stuck down their strike as “illegal”, he regretted the fact that the striking pilots who reported sick were neither sick nor had visited doctors.
Singh said his Ministry is ready to discuss all issues as the government had announced Rs 30,000 crore as bailout package over eight years.
“This bailout is not without strings. They have to meet strict standards. If they meet these standards, we will release public money,” he said. In this context, he said the airline owed crores of rupees to oil companies as dues.
The Minister's statement came as members demanded an early end to the strike.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP) demanded a roadmap from the government regarding an early end to the strike as he felt that neither the government nor the pilots were ready to “blink” as the strike as continued for over 14 days now. His concerns were shared by Naresh Agarwal (SP) and Prem Chand Gupta (RJD).
D Raja (CPI) sought to know if the government has made any assessment with regard to the strike, while N K Singh (JD-U) demanded control over pricing of the tickets so that other airlines do not fleece passengers.
The ongoing crisis in Air India figured in the Rajya Sabha with Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh putting the onus on over 200 agitating pilots of the Indian Pilots Guild, saying they were not listening to Government appeals to end the strike.
“I committed in the House that no victimisation would be done...but pilots are not listening. That is where the situation stands today,” he said as members from both sides expressed concern over the ongoing strike and its impact on passengers.
Air India's image has been “dented” by the strike, he said while observing that it has come during the peak season and at a time when its revenue had gone up to 35 per cent and ontime performance was improving.
He regretted that the striking pilots, who reported sick and did not resume work, were neither sick nor had visited doctors.
The airline has so far sacked 101 pilots. Five pilots have resumed duty. The IPG has demanded that all those sacked be reinstated and asked the airline to sort out forthwith issues relating to their career progression.
With no signs of an end to the strike, the airlines has decided to accept bookings only for those flights which are being operated under the contingency plan.
Under the plan, which Air India implemented on May 16 following the strike, the national carrier is operating a bare minimum number of international operations by clubbing flights to destinations in Europe and the US.
