New Delhi, April 30
With the pilots’ strike into its fourth day, the woes of the country’s flagship carrier, Air India, continued, forcing the cash-strapped airline to cancel most of its domestic flights and take two Kingfisher planes on wet lease to ferry stranded passengers.

According to an airline official, the management is considering various options, including extension in the suspension of further bookings beyond the originally planned date. “But one thing is certain, we won’t allow striking pilots to dictate terms,” he said.

The defiant pilots, on the other hand, refused to budge and said they were fighting for the ouster of AI CMD Arvind Jadhav, who, they claim, was solely responsible for the airlines’ “financial mess” and “mismanagement”.

At least 135 of 165 domestic flights were withdrawn by the national carrier on Saturday as the required number of pilots were not available for duty, airline officials said.

Most passengers, including those who had booked on Air India earlier, cancelled their tickets . While the ticket-counters of Air India wore a deserted look, those of the private carriers were crowded.

The logjam is worrying, say aviation experts. “The factor of exclusivity of profession — that the pilots are counting on - works both ways. If pilots feel that the airline cannot get 800-odd qualified A-320 pilots immediately then they should also be aware that if AI shuts down business they also will not find jobs so easily,” they warn.

This stalemate is likely to continue at least till Monday, when the government may go in for a partial lockout, the third in IA’s history, and the court could ask striking pilot leaders as to why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.

Former AI Executive Director Jitendra Bhargava told The Tribune: “Wisdom should dawn upon both sides and they should make efforts to break the deadlock at the earliest. By adopting a rigid attitude both sides are causing enormous harm to the airline. Irrespective of whether pilots’ demands are genuine or not, dialogue must be initiated either by the management or the ministry or outsiders who have good standing in society.”

The management says that the ICPA had given a strike notice on March 23, demanding higher emoluments and parity in pay and allowances of erstwhile pilots belonging to erstwhile Air India. Ever since the merger, the management is seized with the issue of bringing about parity in emoluments and compensation harmonisation of similar categories of employees of both erstwhile companies.

The Government had appointed an Expert Committee headed by retired Justice of Supreme Court Dharamadhikari to examine the principles of integration, pay parity between all employees of erstwhile airlines and to suggest harmonized working conditions of various categories of employees. The Expert Committee began functioning this week.

“Why are some pilots being impatient, being irresponsible, being unreasonable, being adamant on tarnishing the image of the company and being totally unconcerned towards the convenience of our esteemed patrons / passengers?” questions AI CMD Arvind Jadhav He says that till the compensation is harmonised, employees of both the erstwhile Companies will continue to draw their wages and allowances in term of the settlement signed with their respective union/association, prior to the merger. 

ICPA pilots claim their fight has gone beyond pay parity to the much larger issue, that of mismanagement and corruption in AI for which “Jadhav is responsible”. ICPA president AS Bhinder says the pilots have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, seeking a CBI probe into all their charges.

Pilots’ charge is that AI and IA placed orders for 111 new Boeing and Airbus aircraft worth Rs 50,000 crore even when they not have the money. The aircraft were purchased on debt and without any plan to increase the market share.

“If you look into the performance record of past six months, you will see a consistent fall. Are the pilots responsible for this?” they question, adding that the interest burden and losing prime routes is what is killing the Maharaja. Another point of contention is the merger of AI and IA in 2007, which even a Parliamentary committee termed a “marriage of two incompatible individuals”. The Committee on Public Undertakings described move “ill-conceived and whimsical”, asked the government to have separate domestic and international airlines under a single holding company and recommended fixing of responsibility on “agencies and individuals” who took such a “whimsical” decision.