Hyderabad, September 30: Even as the agitation by a section of executive pilots of Air India is intensifying, the services of the national carrier did not have much impact in Hyderabad Tuesday.
According to AI officials, only one flight scheduled to leave from Hyderabad to Kolkata at 6 a.m was cancelled.
“Passengers of this flight were accommodated in other private airlines according to their wish. We have tried our best to ensure that there was no inconvenience to the passengers,’’ official spokesperson of Air India said. A section of the airline’s executive pilots are on strike for the third day, seeking restoration of the productivity linked incentives that were discontinued to cut costs by the management of the cashstrapped carrier.
Meanwhile, nine international flights out of 21 had to be cancelled as 60 executive pilots of erstwhile Air India reported sick between yesterday and this morning. The flights affected were – the non-stop flights to New York from Delhi and Mumbai; flights to London from Delhi and Mumbai; flights to Chicago from Delhi and flight to Singapore from Mumbai. The other flights affected included Amritsar-London-Toronto and Ahmedabad-Frankfurt, according to a release.
On the domestic front, Air India is planning to operate 136 out of its 177 scheduled flights Tuesday. As many as 37 flights would be cancelled due to non-availability of executive pilots who have been reporting sick since September 26.
Four flights would be combined.
So far, 87 executive pilots of NACIL (I) have reported sick thus forcing Air India to curtail its flight schedule.
–Agencies–