An airline spokesman said nearly 90% of the domestic operations were hit and only 40 of the 320 daily flights were operated.
Air India's domestic operations came to a virtual halt on the fifth day of the pilots strike today with no solution in sight to break the stalemate and all eyes were now on the Delhi high court which will take up criminal proceedings against the agitators tomorrow.
An airline spokesman said nearly 90% of the domestic operations were hit. Only 40 of the 320 daily flights were operated. The national carrier said it has planned the same curtailed service for the next week.
AI operated only 40 domestic flights out of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai and other airports.
Agitating pilots said they have not received any invitation for talks from the Air India management, which on the other hand is awaiting the High Court's decision on the contempt proceedings against three Indian Commercial Pilot Association (ICPA) leaders.
Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav sent an SMS to all airline employees asking them to persuade the pilots to return to work and the negotiating table, saying the issues they were raising "occured many years ago, for which the current administration cannot be held responsible."
"Risking our airline's survival at this time is criminal. We all condemn corruption in public life, and culprits must be punished", Jadhav said, adding "all actions spoken of (by the pilots) are unforgiveable".
An airline spokesperson said the strike disrupted 90 per cent of the domestic operations, though flights operated by its subsidiaries Alliance Air and Air India Express on the regional and international sectors, including the Gulf, operated normally.
The global operations also included flights to and from the US, UK, Europe, Southeast Asia (Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong), China and the Gulf, he said, adding 42 regional flights were also operated.
The curtailed operations schedule till next Friday has been finalised and put on the airline website and the airline has stopped all domestic bookings till Tuesday.
The Delhi high court last week came down heavily on striking pilots for defying its order to resume work. This followed Air India management moving the court seeking contempt proceedings against the pilots.
Observing that the strike by pilots was an act that was "wilful, brazen and smacks of sheer arrogance", the court had said that "prima facie the conduct of these pilots would be covered within the definition of criminal conduct within the meaning of the expression in Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act".
Regarding the executive pilots reporting sick and not joining duty, it said "this conduct of mass sick report smacks of collusion and even contrived sickness with the intent to create a defence for their not joining duty. The same renders such persons liable for initiation of appropriate proceedings against them for criminal contempt".
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