Airline officials have said that many of the flights of the national carrier operated from Bangalore were piloted by contract and executive pilots, who are not on the payroll of the airline.
Airline officials have said that many of the flights of the national carrier operated from Bangalore were piloted by contract and executive pilots, who are not on the payroll of the airline.
Bangalore-based pilots of national carrier, numbering almost 40, are reportedly all on strike. They have joined the strike call of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), and have been off work since the midnight of April 26.
“Air India is operating its fleet with pilots who are not on the airline payroll. These pilots include seven co-pilots who are on probation and one pilot on contract,” said an Air India commander, adding that if the standoff between the Air India management and pilots continues for another couple of days, the entire fleet of the national carrier could be grounded.
“These co-pilots and contracted pilots are the only ones who have been flying since the strike began. They will do so for a couple days. After that, they will have to take a break. As per flying norms, pilots will have to take a mandatory day of leave after six days of flying,” the Air India commander explained.
Even as the strike continues, Air India has issued advertisements stating that the strike by its pilots seeking higher emoluments is illegal and unjustified, as a majority of them earn in the range of Rs3.88 lakh and Rs7 lakh per month.
Strike is no bolt from the blue
Putting the blame for the strike squarely on the shoulders of the management, the pilots said that a strike notice had been issued in February. The management did little to hear their pleas or put in place a contingency plan. The process of merger of Indian Airlines with Air India has been going on since 2007, and the pilots of the Indian Airlines have been demanding parity in pay with colleagues from Air India.
Since a pilot’s monthly pay depends on the number of hours he flies, and Indian Airlines has not been operating as many flights in the domestic sector as it used to, the pay of pilots in Indian Airlines has dipped, causing sharp differences in emoluments when compared with those of pilots flying to foreign destinations.
“We have no intention of causing hardship to passengers. The strike did not come like a bolt from the blue for Air India top brass. Everybody in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Air India including the Intelligence Bureau, knew,” said an executive pilot.
“Over the years, the Air India revenues have been declining due to suspension of routes. Private airlines have been building on routes that were handed over to them by retiring directors of Air India.
I recall that we had five flights from Chennai to Bangalore, all going mostly full, that connected Bangalore to places like Ahmedabad, Pune and Goa. They were withdrawn overnight, and Jet Airways started operations on those routes. Air India had the responsibility to develop and hand over routes to Jet Airways then, now we do that for Kingfisher,” the pilot alleged.
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