Air India's domestic operations have come to a virtual halt with the strike by pilots entering the sixth day today.
Air India operations continued to be disrupted for the sixth day today with the striking pilots refusing to budge even as the Delhi High Court deferred till tomorrow a decision on contempt proceedings against the agitators.
According to official estimates, private carriers were flying about 15,000-16,000 of passengers of AI which has drastically slashed its domestic services by nearly 90 per cent operating only 40 of its 320 daily flights today.
"We will await the High Court's order on the contempt proceedings and abide by it. .... I have already stated that there will be no talks with the pilots till they are on strike," civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi said here.
A two-judge bench of the Delhi high court heard both the pilots and the management through the day and adjourned the matter till tomorrow, castigating both sides for losing opportunities to reach a compromise.
"You agree with them (pilots) to take them back. There is something called give-and-take policy," the bench told the AI management after the pilots offered to call off the strike if derecognition of Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) was revoked and its sacked office-bearers reinstated.
At a press conference, Ravi accused the main opposition BJP for launching "a political conspiracy by trying to target the Prime Minister on each and every issue", when he was asked about BJP charges that Air India affairs were being run by the Prime Minister's Office.
He said he had briefed the Prime Minister on the situation arising out of the pilots strike and the high court deliberations today.
The Minister said seven rounds of meetings were held between the pilots and management before the Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) but the pilots remained adamant.
Therefore, "I consider this (strike) as a threat to the people and the government and we will not succumb to any pressure", he said.
Countering Ravi's statement, ICPA leaders said the CLC, in its closure report, had blamed the management for not making any effort to resolve the issues.
They quoted the CLC's closure report on the conciliation proceedings as saying that the management had shown "an insincere and superficial attitude towards reaching an amicable solution".
The pilots, who struck work from midnight last Tuesday, have been demanding pay parity with their colleagues of erstwhile Air India, better working conditions and CBI inquiry into alleged withdrawal of flights from profitable routes, aircraft purchase and other issues.
Air India has curtailed its operations schedule till May six while it has stopped domestic bookings till tomorrow.
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