Pilots' unions raise the pitch for talks

Mumbai: As the Air India pilots' strike entered the sixth day, two pilots' associations yesterday appealed to the state-run airline management and civil aviation minister Ajit Singh for reinstatement of 70-odd terminated pilots and initiate talks.

While the Air India Executive Pilots' Association (EPA) requested the Air India management to initiate talks with agitating pilots owing allegiance to the Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG), the Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots (Swip) — representing nearly 1,000 professional pilots across the country — wrote to Singh on similar lines.

Appeal

In its statement, EPA appealed to the chairman and managing director of Air India as also the airline's board "to consider immediate initiation of the dialogue process with the IPG and withdrawal of the orders of termination issued to some of our pilot colleagues".

"This will put an end to the ongoing stalemate and continued loss of revenue, reputation and image of the company in the eyes of the travelling public. This proactive step would be in line with the directions of the Supreme Court of India," the EPA statement said.

Maintaining that the issues raised by the agitating pilots were ‘legitimate' and required urgent intervention and resolution, the EPA said: "It is the most sincere attempt of the EPA to assist the company in this hour of crisis."

Merger in focus

The EPA warned the state carrier's management that in the absence of concrete and urgent steps it "will find it extremely difficult to provide any further co-operation to the company and will be forced to consider appropriate action".

In its letter to the civil aviation minister, Swip's general secretary Capt Sumit Mehta said that following the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, "the management has created deep chasm and mistrust between the IPG and Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA)".

"Swip represented by approximately 1,000 professional pilots in India, are calling for immediate reinstatement of our IPG colleagues and good faith negotiations between management, IPG and ICPA in the hope of reaching an agreement which is acceptable to all parties," Mehta said.

Contingency schedule

He added that the current state of affairs in Air India is the result of a failed bid to merge Air India and Indian Airlines.

Meanwhile, Air India announced a contingency schedule which is to be effective from Wednesday even as it cancelled 29 international flights scheduled for departure until such time.

The airline also merged two Delhi-Paris-Delhi flights bound for arrival and departure between May 16 and 18. It also merged two more Delhi-Frankfurt-Delhi flights bound for departure and arrival on May 16 and 18.