New Delhi/Mumbai, May 17
(IANS) Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh Thursday called all Air India unions
for talks next week in a bid to end the 10-day pilots' strike that has seen the
airline's losses mounting to Rs.188 crore.
In another development,
the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) suffered a setback with the Delhi High Court
refusing to entertain its plea challenging the court's earlier order
restraining the pilots from going on an 'illegal strike.'
A division bench of teh
high court said that contempt proceedings should be started against the pilots.
The minister's
invitation to the unions came amid reports of cracks in the pilots' unity.
Singh said he would discuss with the unions all outstanding issues such as pay
parity and promotion.
Air India is losing
Rs.13 crore every day. 'We have lost about Rs.188 crore due to ticket
cancellations, unused labour and with a bulk of our Boeing-777 fleet grounded,'
a senior official of Air India's operations arm told IANS.
Facing 10 days of strike
by 400 pilots, the carrier's share in the domestic market has meanwhile slid to
fourth position, after SpiceJet, Jet Airways and IndiGo.
The carrier is currently
operating under the so-called contingency plan. 'We are operating a bare
minimum number of international operations by clubbing flights to destinations
in Europe and the US,' the official said.
The airline has deployed
the Airbus family of aircraft such as A320, A321 and A330 on international
routes.
It is only operating
eight of its 17 Boeing-777 aircraft which are normally manned by the striking
pilots belonging to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG).
The carrier's low-cost
international wing, Air India Express, is also facing the brunt of the
agitation. The strike and the subsequent flight cancellations by the airline
have disrupted holiday and other travel plans of hundreds of people.
The pilots had earlier
said they were open to talks. But the government has not yet accepted the
offer, insisiting that there would be no negotiations unless the pilots
returned to work.
The pilots have made
four demands which include exclusive flying right on Boeing 787 aircraft,
payment of arrears from 2007 onwards, travel on first class when not working,
and the right to be promoted as commanders within six years.
Trouble started for the
airline May 8 when pilot-members of the IPG took mass sick leave protesting the
move to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile
Indian Airlines.
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