Air India strike losses pegged at Rs2.7b

New Delhi/Mumbai:  The Air India pilot strike entered its 17th day yesterday with the national carrier's losses reaching Rs2.7 billion (Dh178.5 million).

Ticket cancellations, staff with nothing to do and the bulk of the Boeing 777 fleet being grounded accounted for the losses, according to a senior airline official.

"Losses per day are being contained to downwards of Rs10 crore (Rs100 million) in the current contingency plan," the official said.

The airline has enough executive pilots not on strike to operate long-haul flight to the US and Europe.

"An interim schedule has been decided keeping into account the economics, load factor and importance of the destination," the official said.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has appealed to pilots to return to work, making assurances no one would be victimised.

But the Indian Pilots Guild has refused outright.

The beleaguered airline will effectively drop seven international destinations, including Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul and Toronto, from its June schedule, bring the number of destinations down to 38.

Case-by-case

"We have deployed the Airbus family of aircraft... for nearby destinations," the official said.

On Wednesday, Ajit Singh said the 101 sacked pilots would be reinstated on a case-by-case basis.

"We have taken back one sacked pilot," the minister said.

"But taking back sacked pilots will be decided on a case-by-case. First they have to come back to work unconditionally."

The pilots have said they will end their strike if the sacked colleagues are reinstated and the management starts negotiations on the issues raised.

Ready for talks

"We are ready for talks but without the condition of joining work without any discussions on our issues," the IPG's Rohit Kapahi said.

Trouble started on May 8 when members of the IPG took mass sick leave, protesting the move to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to former Indian Airlines pilots.

The pilots want exclusive flying rights on the aircraft, payment of arrears from 2007, first class travel when not working, and the right to be promoted to the rank of commander within six years.