Air India to operate nine-wide bodied aircraft from Mumbai

With the strike by Air India pilots entering the fifth day today, the national carrier has decided to put into operation nine wide-bodied aircraft, besides a few domestic operations to transport stranded passengers from the city airports.

The airline will be operating four Boeing 777's between Mumbai-Ahmedabad-Delhi-Mumbai (two services), Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, and Mumbai-Jeddah-Mumbai, an Air India spokesperson said.

It will also operate a Boeing 747 Jumbo between Mumbai-Dubai-Delhi-Mumbai.

The airline will operate four Boeing 737 services between Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai (two services), Mumbai-Trivandrum-Mumbai, and Chennai-Singapore-Chennai, the spokesperson added.

The airline will also be operating 30 normal services using narrow-bodied aircraft, the spokesperson said.

The striking pilots are demanding a higher fixed component in the salary package, a CBI probe into alleged mismanagement which has led to losses of over Rs16,000 crore and removal of airline CMD Arvind Jadhav holding him responsible for the "financial mess".