The striking pilots while stating that they were ready for talks showed no signs of returning to work, leaving hundreds of passengers fretting with holiday schedules going haywire.
Empathising with the demands of the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) spearheading the agitation, the Executive Pilots' Association (EPA) blamed the management for the "complete failure" of integration of the two airlines leading to the industrial relations between management and employees "to fall to an all time low".
Charging the management with violating all service conditions of pilots and the agreements with them "in the name of merger", the EPA sought reinstatement of all terminated pilots and restoring the recognition of the IPG. AI has terminated the services of 71 striking pilots.
In a letter to the AI management, the EPA, however, said they are not in "agreement with the methods adopted by the IPG".
"We strongly feel the company should reconsider the (Boeing-) 787 Manpower Planning policy and maintain the pre- merger status quo until the contentious issues of pilot's seniority and HR integration are resolved," it said.
The EPA comprises the senior-most pilots, many of them holding managerial positions. AI is banking on them to put into operation their contingency plan.
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The national carrier is expected to put in place the contingency plan from tomorrow to operate at least seven international services on a firm basis. These flights would be operated by executive pilots.
"Pilots have still not reported for work. We have had to cancel 20 flights from Delhi and Mumbai," an Air India official said.
The flights cancelled include those between Mumbai and Newark, London and Shanghai and the services between Delhi and Narita (Tokyo), Frankfurt, Paris, Toronto, Hong Kong and Seoul. The airline has stopped taking bookings of international flights till May 15.(MORE)