New Delhi/ Mumbai, Jan 14
Cash-strapped national carrier Air India today managed to avert major crisis after some of its pilots, who had earlier in the day announced “no-pay-no-work” agitation against non-payment of their salary and allowances, reached an agreement with the management. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, on his part, promised speedy redress of grievances.

However, passengers had to the bear the brunt of this “unscheduled” strike, which led to cancellation of around 40 flights from Delhi and Mumbai and to some other international destinations.

Confusion prevailed at Delhi and Mumbai airports with a large number of passengers queuing up at Air India counters to find the status of their flights. While most of the long-haul international flights to destinations like London, New York, Toronto, Tokyo and Chicago operated as scheduled, flights to or from Kabul, Kathmandu, Muscat and Abu Dhabi stood cancelled. Earlier, around 100 pilots reported for duty but did not operate flights protesting delay in payment of wages.