Air India pilots call off 58-day strike

Management says it would consider the reinstatement of sacked pilots ?sympathetically?, but does not give any assurance

Around 450 pilots of Air India who fly international routes called off their agitation on Tuesday, after 58 days — one of the longest strikes in India’s aviation history. The Indian Pilots Guild informed the Delhi High Court that it would call off the strike and that its members would join duty in 48 hours.

The Air India management told the court it would “sympathetically” consider the reinstatement of the 101 sacked pilots, but did not give any assurance that all would be taken back.

The end of the stir apart, it would take a while for Air India to restore normalcy in operations. For, all the pilots have to now undergo medical examination at an Air Force establishment. Pilots will also have to do simulator training as they have not been flying for almost two months.

Air India, which has 21 wide-bodied aircraft, has been using only seven airplanes of late. In other words, it has been offering only 5,400 seats a day instead of the normal 10,000. The strike is estimated to have left Air India suffering a Rs 600-crore revenue loss.

Late on Tuesday evening, pilots announced the withdrawal of the strike. The union’s petition against dismissal of pilots is coming up for hearing in the Bombay High Court tomorrow, and it is waiting for the outcome of the case. “We are complying with the order,” an IPG office-bearer said. “We have to join duty in 48 hours.”

If a solution to the pilots’ strike had eluded till now, it was because of an uncompromising stance on both sides.

A breakthrough, eventually, came on an intervention of the Delhi High Court. On Monday, judge Reva Khetrapal of the court had asked Air India to adopt a “paternal attitude”, and directed lawyers on both sides to arrive at a settlement.

To this, the IPG offered the olive branch to the management when its counsel Geeta Luthra informed the court that the union would call off the strike and pilots would join duties in 48 hours. The pilots have been asked to submit an affidavit and joining reports to the court.

Air India’s counsel Lalit Bhasin informed the court that the airline would, on withdrawal of strike, sympathetically consider all the grievances, including reinstatement of sacked pilots.

Last Friday, the court had directed both the sides to report to chief labour commissioner’s office for conciliation of all pending issues including sacking of pilots and career progression and sought a report of Monday’s meeting.

IPG has been on strike since May 7 over the issue of training on Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes. The trigger for the strike was the selection of pilots from erstwhile Indian Airlines to train on the Boeing 787 planes.

IPG joint secretary Sarabjeet Singh said the organisation has decided to call off the strike. “With the conciliation process, we are hopeful that our grievances will be met,” he added.

Luthra said the court had taken a positive and pragmatic view. “It is also supervising the matter, and has asked for a report of conciliation process,” she told Business Standard.

Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh expressed the hope that the striking Air India pilots would call off the strike immediately, join duty within 48 hours. The government is always willing to consider the grievances of the pilots, including reinstatement of the terminated pilots, he added.

Till now, conciliation attempts at the labour commissioner’s office were fruitless. Negotiations to end the strike, too, did not materialise. Other labour unions and executive pilots tried to mediate but civil aviation minister Ajit Singh took a tough stance against the pilots and gave no guarantee on reinstating the ten committee members of the IPG. Absence of talks took the matter to a dead end, and a feeling of fatigue set in among the pilots.

The Air India management and civil aviation ministry’s stance in dealing with Air India pilots now was in sharp contrast with its stance during the another such pilots’ strike last year. While it sacked pilots from Indian Commercial Pilots Associations and derecognised the union in May 2011, this time it actively negotiated the issue with the striking pilots and worked out an settlement to end the crisis in ten days. The ICPA’s demands on career progression were accepted in six months.

http://business-standard.com/india/news/air-india-pilots-call-off-58-day-strike/479342/

Air India pilots blink, ready to call off strike

The 58-day strike by Air India’s Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG), one of the longest in aviation history, was called off on Tuesday. The 434 IPG pilots have agreed to return to work within 48 hours. This came after the Delhi High Court asked pilots to end the strike.

The pilots will submit letters to Air India indicating their willingness to rejoin work. The ministry and the airline management, on their part, will look at reinstating 101 sacked pilots after the court asked them to consider it “sympathetically”.

With 30% of its 45 daily international flights cancelled during the strike, Air India has lost R610 crore.

“We will operate the full schedule as and when the pilots who were on strike have been cleared to fly again after requisite medical and flying tests,” an Air India official said.

“Serious efforts have been made to settle the dispute and the counsel for the parties have assured the court that their respective clients will be extending full cooperation in this regard,” said justice Reva Khetrapal, according to a PTI report.

“The senior counsel appearing for pilots has said that her clients will immediately call off the strike and join duty in 48 hours, by giving reports expressing their willingness to join the duty,” he added. “The Air India management shall sympathetically consider grievances of the pilots, including the aspect of reinstatement of those pilots who were terminated as a consequence of their strike.”

The IPG expressed its happiness at the turn of events: “The court has made very positive observations,” said captain Tauseef Mukadam, joint secretary of the IPG.

It has said all pilots should be taken back and no distinction should be made between those sacked and others; so we are happy.”

Aviation minister Ajit Singh hoped the striking pilots would call off the strike immediately and those who are in service would join their duties within 48 hours as per their commitment to the court. “The government is committed to the welfare of the employees of Air India including pilots and, at the same time, to revive Air India to the past glory to make it the best airline,” Singh, who is out of country for a personal trip, said in a statement.

The reconciliation process will start now and the management is expected to meet the pilots on Friday.

“We have said before that the pilots can come back unconditionally,” said a senior Air India official. “As regards the pilots who have been sacked, we will look at them on a case-by-case basis.”

The IPG went on strike because they wanted Boeing 787 training to be imparted only to them. Air India had decided to include erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots represented by the Indian Commercial Pilots Association or ICPA in the training programme following a Supreme Court order in February 2012.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/air-india-pilots-blink-ready-to-call-off-strike/969958/2

Air India pilots end strike, will join duties in 48 hours

The 58-day protracted strike by Air India pilots was called off on Tuesday night after the Delhi High Court asked them to join duty within 48 hours and the management to sympathetically consider their grievances.
The decision to end the strike was announced by the Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) after a meeting of its managing committee in Mumbai.

"We the pilots of Air India and members of the Indian Pilots Guild, on the intervention of Hon’ble Justice Ms. Reva Khetrapal of the Hon’ble Delhi High Court have started the procedure to resume work," an IPG statement issued after the meeting said.

It said that as directed by the High Court, the IPG looked forward to negotiations with the AI management on all pending issues in the presence of the Chief Labour Commissioner.

"We sincerely hope that the AI management and the Civil Aviation Ministry will be as sincere on their part. On this understanding, we are commencing the process of restoring normalcy of operations," said IPG General Secretary E A Kapadia.

The IPG statement came after its counsel, Geeta Luthra, told the high court that the striking pilots numbering 434 will join their duties in 48 hours. During the two-hour-long court proceedings, the judge said the pilots are not "goondas or criminal elements. You consider their grievances after talking to them."

"The senior counsel (Luthra) appearing for the pilots has said that her clients will immediately call off the strike and join their duties in 48 hours, by giving joining reports or the report expressing their willingness to join the duty.

"The AI management shall sympathetically consider the grievances of the pilots including the aspect of reinstatement of those pilots whose services were terminated as a consequence to their strike," Justice Khetrapal said while disposing of the pilots' plea for a direction to the AI management to take back the 101 sacked pilots, including 10 IPG office bearers.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/air-india-pilots-end-strike-will-join-duties-48-hours-492

Air India pilots end strike; Delhi High Court gives them 48 hours to join duty

PG managing committee will take formal decision to call off strike by Wednesday

The 58-day protracted strike by Air India pilots was called off late on Tuesday after the Delhi High Court asked them to join duty within 48 hours and the management to consider their grievances. This will bring much needed relief to the passengers affected by the strike.

The decision to end the strike was announced by the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) after a meeting of its managing committee in Mumbai.

This, the second-longest strike in the aviation history of independent India, has caused a loss of Rs. 600 crore to the Air India management and raised questions about its reliability and credibility among international and domestic travellers.

Reacting to the development, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh expressed the hope that the pilots would join their duties within 48 hours, as per the commitment made by them in the High Court.

“The government is always willing to consider the grievances of the pilots, including reinstatement of the terminated pilots of Air India,” he added in a statement here.

“We sincerely hope that the AI management and the Civil Aviation Ministry will be as sincere on their part. On this understanding, we are commencing the process of restoring normalcy of operations,” said IPG general secretary E.A. Kapadia.

The IPG statement came after counsel Geetha Luthra told the court that the striking pilots, numbering 434, will join their duties in 48 hours.

‘We are willing’

Earlier, the guild had said: “We have been willing to join duty but we could not have left out 10 colleagues of the managing committee in the lurch as the Air India management was unwilling to take them back. The management had indicated that they were ready to take back 91 pilots immediately but they were silent on the 10 others. We wanted an assurance on their fate also, and with the court taking a positive view of the situation, we are confident things will end smoothly for all.” Justice Khetrapal heard an application of the guild, which had alleged that the management had created a “hostile environment” by sacking the striking pilots and also derecognising it.

The pilots went on strike on May 7 over demands for better career progression. The Air India management took a tough stand and sacked 101 pilots, including the 10 office bearers of the IPG, which was also derecognised.

The strike has resulted in the curtailment of Air India’s international operations.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3598155.ece

Karnataka opposes moveto shift Aero India venue

Since 1994, the event has made Bangalore a major destination for aerospace industries to showcase their technology inventions.

BANGALORE, JULY 3: 

Karnataka has opposed the move to shift Aero India 2013 out of Bangalore.

Aero India is a biennial event which attracts global aircraft makers’ and aviation ancillaries’ suppliers.

The Chief Minister, Mr D.V. Sadananada Gowda, in a letter to the Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, said, “It has come to our notice that there is a move to shift Aero India out of Bangalore. I am told that this has come up because of BIAL taking up the issue of aerospace management and Ministry of Civil Aviation has approached Ministry of Defence to consider moving the air show to a location where there is greater free air space.”

Aero India has been in Bangalore since its inception in 1994. The main reason for holding the premier aviation event is the availability of good air environment and the city is the hub of aerospace industry in India.

The State is opposing the shift for it has invested considerable effort in developing connectivity with the city and the international airport, besides ensuring that air environment is protected from man-made hazards.

Mr Gowda said, “To further develop the aerospace eco-system, considerable investment is being made in developing the Bangalore Aero Space Park in 1,000 acres, including a SEZ near Bial.”

“You may be aware, that there is a reasonably fixed calendar for the conduct of air shows at the global level. Moving to a different location would necessitate change of time of the year due to weather and other constrains and it would be extremely difficult to fit into the existing schedule of global air shows,” Mr Gowda said.

Since 1994, the event has made Bangalore a major destination for aerospace industries to showcase their technology inventions. Moving out of Bangalore would be a retrograde step for the Indian aerospace industry in general and the aerospace industry in Karnataka in particular. The event adds a lot of business to the local aerospace industry by companies from across the world.

“I would like to bring to your notice that the Bangalore international airport runway was closed in the month of April 2012 for almost 30 days from 10 am to 5 pm for maintenance and repair of runway,” the Chief Minister said.

“Hence, it may not be difficult to close BiAl runaway for 5 days during the air India show timing, in case of any difficulty in managing air space,” Mr Gowda added.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/article3598829.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy

Boeing sees demand for 34,000 jets

ONDON: US planemaker Boeing hiked its 20-year market forecast, predicting demand for 34,000 new aircraft worth $4.5 trillion, on growth in emerging regions and as airlines seek efficient new planes to counter high fuel costs. 

Many airlines are facing tough conditions as consumers and businesses in austerity-hit regions cut back on travel, while high fuel prices are taking their toll on profit.

"I don't think there's any question that the forecast reflects the economic struggles we see today in some of the mature markets,- Randy Tinseth, vice-president marketing at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told a media briefing in London. The forecast did not take into account a possible collapse of the euro or the exit of any euro member, Tinseth said. 

"We're looking at a world economy, where, especially over the next few years, we slog through the situation here in Europe and then once you get into the 2014 time frame and beyond, you see more normal economic growth.- 

Boeing said yesterday the market for new planes would become more geographically balanced over the next two decades, with the Asia-Pacific region leading the way in deliveries, as markets like China and Indiacontinued to grow. 

The company had last year forecast demand for 33,500 new passenger aircraft and freighters worth $4 trillion by 2030. 
"Robust growth in China, India and other emerging markets is a major factor in the increased deliveries over the next 20 years,- Boeing said. 

Airline traffic to grow
The company said airline traffic was forecast to grow at a five per cent annual rate over the next 20 years, with cargo traffic seen growing at a rate of 5.2 per cent. 

It saw the world fleet doubling over the next two decades. 
"Low-cost carriers, with their ability to stimulate traffic with low fares, are growing faster than the market as a whole,- the company said. 

Replacement aircraft 
Boeing said there was strong demand to replace older, less fuel-efficient aircraft, with replacements accounting for 41 per cent of new deliveries in the forecast, which runs to 2031.

There would be strong demand for replacement aircraft from Europe, the United States and Russia, Tinseth said. 
The company said it saw a market for 23,240 single-aisle aircraft over the next two decades -” a category that includes its 737 and rival Airbus's A320 -” worth $2.03 trillion. 

http://www.timesofoman.com/innercat.aspx?detail=7699

Boeing raises forecast for aircraft demand

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Boeing has increased its forecast for aircraft demand over the next two decades but has said uncertainty in the global economy will weigh on orders until 2014, as it cut its estimate for sales in North America and the Middle East.

The world’s second-biggest jet-maker by revenues said airline traffic would grow by 5 per cent a year until 2031, leading to a doubling of air travel. Boeing said manufacturers would deliver 34,000 new aircraft valued at some $4.5tn over that period, up from the 33,500 jets it forecast in last year’s 20-year industry outlook.

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However, the company was more cautious about the short term, indicating that uncertainty fuelled by the eurozone crisis could depress sales over the next two years.

“The forecast reflects the economic struggles we see today in some of the mature markets,” said Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s vice-president of marketing. “The economic growth rate for this forecast is down.”

“We’re looking at a world economy, where especially over the next few years, we slog through the situation here in Europe and then once you get into the 2014 timeframe and beyond, you see more normal economic growth,” Mr Tinseth said. “What we are experiencing now will be normal for the next one-two years.”

Boeing expects narrow-body, single-aisled aircraft, such as its 737 and Airbus’s A320, to make up the biggest share of the aircraft fleet over the next 20 years, although it trimmed its forecast slightly from last year.

The US manufacturer said it expected a market for 23,240 narrow-bodies worth some $2.03tn over the next two decades, down from last year’s estimate of 23,370 aircraft. Boeing also pared its estimate for sales of large wide-bodied jets, saying it expected 790 deliveries worth $280bn, down from last year’s forecast of 820 aircraft.

On the other hand, Boeing boosted its outlook for sales of smaller twin-aisled aircraft such as its 777,767 and 787 Dreamliner. The company said it expects 7,950 deliveries valued at about $2.08tn, up from its estimate of 7,330 aircraft last year.

Boeing sees the strongest demand coming from Asia, where customers will buy some 12,030 new aircraft by 2031, up more than 5 per cent from last year’s forecast.

European buyers are expected to take delivery of some 7,760 new aircraft over the next two decades, Boeing said, while North American customers will buy 7,290 jets, down more than 3 per cent from last year’s forecast. The group also downgraded its outlook for sales in the Middle East, where it expects demand for 2,370 aircraft, some 6 per cent fewer than in last year’s forecast.

Boeing cut its forecast for the freighter market, saying it expected sales of 3,200 aircraft by 2031, down from the 3,500 it estimated last year.

As well as meeting increased air traffic demand, Boeing reckons that some 41 per cent of new deliveries will replace older, less fuel-efficient aircraft now in operation.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8e7c1488-c52d-11e1-940d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1zcmFvX9A

Air India pilots call off 58-day-long strike

All agitating pilots to be reinstated; to rejoin duty within 48 hours

New Delhi, July 3:  

Air India pilots today told the Delhi High Court that they would end their strike and rejoin work in 48 hours.

This followed the management’s ‘assurance’ — after the court’s directive — that the pilots’ grievances would be considered favourably. It will also include reinstatement of the 101 pilots (including the 10 office bearers of the Indian Pilots Guild) terminated during the 58-day strike. In all, 434 pilots participated in the stir.

Meanwhile, the pilots who were sacked during the strike would submit reports showing their willingness to rejoin work, the court was told.

Amicably settled

The court had earlier asked the management to sympathetically consider the pilots’ grievances and to settle the dispute.

Disposing of the pilots’ petition, the court asked both sides to appear on July 5 before the conciliator, the Chief Labour Commissioner.

The agitating pilots claimed that the management’s move to sack their colleagues and derecognising their union created a “hostile environment”.

The management contended that the pilots disobeyed court orders and said that it would sit across to talk to the pilots only if they ended the strike without pre-conditions.

The management also said the airline was suffering losses of Rs 5 crore daily and the public has been put to hardship due to the cancellation of flights following the strike. The total losses are estimated at Rs 600 crore due to the strike.

The AI pilots went on the strike alleging that the management was not protecting their ‘seniority’ and experience. Following AI’s merger with domestic carrier Indian Airlines, pilots were also considered for training including for the Boeing Dreamliner, which the Air India pilots opposed, claiming they were ‘senior’ and more experienced.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Ajit Singh, hoped the striking AI pilots would call off the strike immediately and rejoin duty within 48 hours as per their commitment to the High Court. He said the Government was always willing to consider the grievances of the pilots, including reinstatement of the AI pilots. In a statement, he said the Government is committed to the welfare of the AI employees, including the pilots, and at the same time revive Air India to its past glory.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-economy/article3599515.ece

Air India pilots call off 58-day-long strike

New Delhi, July 3:  

Air India pilots today told the Delhi High Court that they would end their strike and rejoin work in 48 hours.

This followed the management’s ‘assurance’ — after the court’s directive — that the pilots’ grievances would be considered favourably. It will also include reinstatement of the 101 pilots (including the 10 office bearers of the Indian Pilots Guild) terminated during the 58-day strike. In all, 434 pilots participated in the stir.

Meanwhile, the pilots who were sacked during the strike would submit reports showing their willingness to rejoin work, the court was told. The court had earlier asked the management to sympathetically consider the pilots’ grievances and to settle the dispute. Disposing of the pilots’ petition, the court asked both sides to appear on July 5 before the conciliator, the Chief Labour Commissioner.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/article3599524.ece