Normalcy restored in Air India operations, 18 flights take off

With the striking pilots getting back to work, operations of Air India returned to normal today with 18 of its flights taking off from the national capital. "Flight operations have returned to normal and 18 of our morning flights have taken off for various destination as per schedule," an airlines official said.

The airlines' flights to Southeast Asia operated as per schedule. Air India also operated its Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago, Mumbai-Frankfurt-Chicago, Mumbai-London, Delhi- London, Amritsar-London-Toronto and Ahmedabad-Frankfurt flights this morning.

At check-in counters at the airport here,  the airline officials offered passengers roses and apologised to them for the five days of disruption due to the strike. In an attempt to attract more passengers, the airlines has planned to increase the number of seats offered on special fares, the official said.

Flight operations started to return to normal late last evening after agitating executive pilots started reporting to work following an agreement with the management on keeping the September 24 order regarding cut in their productivity-linked incentive (PLI) in abeyance.

A three-member committee would look into the issues and consult the pilots before any cut. Protesting against the 50 per cent cut in PLIs, pilots reported sick for their duties since last Saturday forcing the airline to cancel over 400 flights. The airline incurred a loss of Rs100 crore due to the agitation.