Stir hits Air India flights from Delhi

A day after the executive pilots of Air India called for a strike to protest the 25-50 per cent cuts in their productivity-linked incentive, 13 domestic flights were cancelled on Saturday.

According to a statement sent by the airline, “All AI coded international flights were operated on schedule. However, 13 domestic flights were affected due to cases of sick reporting by a section of executive pilots mostly in Delhi.” Passengers reported delays in their flights from Delhi to Mumbai.

The airline said that in its merged form it has 319 executive pilots of whom 157 belong to the erstwhile Indian Airlines, and not all have been supporting the strike. Air India’s Executive Director Jitendra Bhargava said passengers had been transferred to other airlines and Air India Express.

The airline has called the pilots for a meeting on Sunday in Mumbai. Bhargava said the employee cost is the second biggest expenditure after jet fuel and landing charges. The airline has a wage bill of Rs3,600 crore and pays close to Rs700 crore as PLI and flying allowance.

While the airline is yet to decide on the percentage of cut of the unionised employees, Bhargava said the management had talks with all the 14 unions.

“We have spoken to members of the union and they can accept a cut of 10-15 per cent as they earn Rs4,000 to Rs5,000 as their PLI amount,” said YE Reddy, president, Aviation Industry Employees’ Guild.

The PLI cut is an initiative in the turnaround plan of three years as the airline has a debt of Rs16,000 crore.