In a partial shutdown of its operations, Air India on Saturday reduced 74 per cent of its flights and operated only 52 flights out of the regular 320, as the strike by its pilots entered the fourth day.
However, the national carrier has a contingency plan and is reducing the number of flights, as around 800 junior and over 150 executive pilots choose to defy the Delhi High Court and the company’s management management and remain on strike.
Air India said the airline had incurred an approximate revenue loss of Rs 26.5 crore till yesterday. The estimated losses during the last three days were Rs 4.5 crore, Rs 10 crore and Rs 12 crore, respectively.
While Air India operations across the country remain disturbed, operations in Mumbai have almost come to a standstill, since the airport was closed for five hours due to maintenance work.
A release from the airline said the national carrier was able to operate all its long-haul international operations on schedule. “Air India has managed to operate all its flights on the long-haul routes to the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, South East Asia and West Asia. All flight operations of Air India’s subsidiaries — Air India Express and Alliance Air — were also on schedule with no disruptions,” said the release.
The release also said domestic operations have been impacted. “In order to minimise the inconvenience to passengers, Air India has taken two aircraft from Kingfisher airlines and operated on the Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Patna-Varanasi-Delhi sectors,” the release said.
Air India is also finalising a schedule of its flights for operation on the domestic sectors for the next fortnight and bookings for these flights would also be made available.
On Friday, disregarding the management’s threat to dismiss more pilots and invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (Esma) if they did join work by 5pm, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) decided to continue the agitation.
A representative of the pilot’s body on Saturday accused the management of not being serious about addressing the issue and ending the strike. “The management refused to talk to us when we were at the chief labour commissioners’ office. Further, we expected the minister would call us for a dialogue, but now we are disappointed,” said Rishab Kapur, general secretary, ICPA.
The Delhi High Court on Friday initiated contempt proceedings against the pilots for defying its order to resume work. The union leaders are to appear before the High Court in the proceedings on Monday.
It is believed the management would wait till Monday before an all-out action against the pilots. The management has, so far, terminated the services of nine pilots and suspended six.
