The crisis in Air India worsened further on the ninth day following the cancellation of 9 more flights, media reports said on Wednesday.
The government on Tuesday promised to hear the pilots’ grievances unconditionally and appealed to them to return to work as the “almost bankrupt” airline had already lost Rs 150 crore and they had the “last chance” to revive it.
Replying to a debate in Lok Sabha during which members voiced concern over the hardship caused to passengers by the strike, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said there would be no vindictive action if the striking pilots came for talks unconditionally, but remained silent on the fate of the 71 pilots already sacked.
“Strike is not an answer to solve your grievances …. All the grievances will be heard unconditionally. You come to talks unconditionally … Please go back to work,” he said while replying to a debate on the civil aviation sector and Air India.
“Air India management will in no way be vindictive towards any employee …. A lot of young people have just joined (as pilots). But the first priority should be that passengers are not inconvenienced,” he said.
His response came as members from all sides wanted an immediate end to the pilots’ agitation and expressed concern over the health of Air India, while questioning the decision of merging the two erstwhile state-run carriers — Air India and Indian Airlines. The issue also figured in the Rajya Sabha.
Singh said Air India, which was already “almost bankrupt”, had lost Rs 150 crore due to the strike which completed eight days. Its credibility was also affected.
Regretting that pilots had resorted to strike during peak season, he said the government had announced Rs 30,000 crore as bailout package over eight years.
“This is bailout is not without strings. They have to meet strict standards. If they meet these standards, then we will release public money. We can’t keep pouring public money. This is the last chance for them to perform,” the Minister said, seeking cooperation of all employees in this regard.
Air India has also curtailed and clubbed many of its flights to US and Europe as part of its contingency plan to stabilise its international operations hit by the ninth-day-old pilot’s stir.
The national carrier would be operating daily return services, with Boeing 777-300 extended range aircraft, for its destinations to Europe and US.
Instead of operating separate flights to US and Europe, Air India has clubbed its flight which would now run on Delhi-Paris-New York, Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago and Delhi-London sectors, under its contingency plan which would be put in placce from May 16 to May 20, AI spokesperson said.
“We would be operating a minimum number of flights by clubbing flights to the the US and European destinations,”an Air India official said.
The Delhi-Paris flight has been clubbed with Delhi-JFK (New York). So, the flight would leave
Delhi and will land in Paris and then go onwards to New York and from there back to Delhi.
The ongoing strike and subsequent flight cancellations by the airline have disrupted holiday and other travel plans of many people.
The airline has also stopped bookings on its ultra long-haul routes till Thursday.
The national carrier would be operating 21 daily flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Ahmedabad and Bangalore to Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, dammam, Muscat and Male.
“The airline would operate four flights per week between Mumbai-Jeddah and three flights a week between Delhi-Jeddah and Delhi-Shanghai. There would be twice weekly operations in Mumbai-Hyderbad-Jeddah, Kochi-Kozhikode-Jeddah, Mumbai-Riyadh, Riaydh-Kochi, Delhi-Tokyo, and Dalhi-Riyadh,” a statment from Air India said.
The airline had planned to wet-lease aircrafts to operate four or five flights but is still evaluating the proposal.
–PTI