Management, pilots to keep consultation group going
Services of Jet Airways limped towards normalcy as the management and the agitating pilots, under the aegis of the National Aviators Guild (NAG), announced the details of an agreement to end the disruption of flights for the past five days.
With pilots reporting for duty, the airline was able to ensure normal international flights. Seventy two of the 74 flights operated today. Domestic flights are expected to reach normalcy only on Monday. The airline operated 172 of the 365 domestic flights.
Elaborating the agreement details, reached early in the morning, after a nine-hour meeting in Mumbai, Saroj Datta, executive director, said the four dismissed pilots would be reinstated. The two sides have also agreed on a consultative group with five members representing the pilots and an equal number from the management. The group will discuss and resolve all issues arising between the two sides.
On continuance of the pilots union — the management wanted it dissolved —representatives of the former said it would continue to function. However, Jet had challenged the legality of the union, on which hearing is due with the Registrar. “The management has decided that all the terminated pilots will be taken back and no action would be initiated against the pilots who were on sick leave,” said Datta.
“An effective system to discuss issues with the management needs to be formed. A consultative committee has been formed, which will have members from the management and the pilot. It will have the Jet CEO, two directors, representatives from flight operations and five pilots,” he added.
“NAG is intact for the time being. However the matter is with the Registrar of Unions and we will follow the law of the land, ” Girish Kaushik, president, NAG, said.
“We are happy that the agitation came to an end and the management recognised our grievances. The NAG will continue to exists.Though the managemnet had challenged the legality of the union and the hearing is due but the union is registered under the Indian Trade Union Act and it is not illegal,” said a NAG representative.
On the losses suffered by the airline, Datta said that though they had lost a lot of revenue, they had also saved some money on variable cost (as flights did not take off, they did not spend on aviation fuel, for instance). Analysts estimate the bottomline losses to be around Rs 25-30 crore for the five days .
“We carry around 24,000 passengers a day and our daily revenue is Rs 40 crore. This fell to 14,000 passengers during the stir and to 7,000 on the last day of the strike. Out of this, 40 per cent were carried by us and the rest by other airlines,” said Datta. Industry experts say the loss of revenue would be around Rs 150 crore.
It all started when the airline management terminated the services of two pilots — Sam Thomas and D Balaraman — allegedly for forming a union.
The union was registered on July 21 and the pilots were terminated on July 31. The pilots then tried to negotiate with the management but when nothing worked out, they gave an indefinite strike call from September 7. This was called off after conciliation proceedings began with the office of the labour commissioner, but the pilots took mass sick leave to keep the pressure on.
