AI Pilots' strike: AI Pilots call off 10-day strike after government assurance, normal services to resume soon

NEW DELHI: Striking Air India pilots called off their 10-day-old stir on Friday night after the government agreed to reinstate dismissed pilots, acknowledge their union and look into complaints of pay disparity and corruption.

“We call off the strike and will return to work. The government has assured us it will look into our demands, including complaints of irregularities against the airline management,” AS Bhinder, president of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association ( ICPA), told reporters.

The government said the issue of pay parity will be taken up by the Justice DN Dharmadhikari Committee, formed last month by the civil aviation ministry to harmonise the wages of the employees of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India. It will submit its report by November. The ministry did not offer any interim financial solution, though. “We have explained to them that it would not be possible for the airline management to offer any interim solution as there are other unions too that could also go on strike with the same demand,” said a ministry official who did not want to be identified.

“The pilots will be taken back immediately, but the recognition of the union might take some time, as there is a court case that needs to be withdrawn first,” the official said.

The pilots “trust and believe in the government and the Dharmadhikari committee”, said ICPA general secretary Captain Rishab Kapoor.

Around 800 pilots of the association and 150 executive pilots were on strike for the past 10 days, causing an estimated revenue loss of over Rs 200 crore to the national carrier. Pilots belonging to the erstwhile Indian Airlines were demanding better wages and pay parity with their Air India counterparts. The two firms had merged in 2007.

Since the strike broke out, Air India has sacked seven pilots and suspended six. Also, the management had decided not to process the April salaries of the agitators “till further instructions”. On Tuesday, the Delhi High Court had issued contempt notices against nine office-bearers of the ICPA for disobeying its order to call off the strike.

On Friday, Air India operated 55 of its 320 daily flights. “But the international operations of the airline were normal. Air India Express, the low-cost wing that operates international flights, and Alliance Air, the regional domestic wing, also operated normal services,” Air India said in a statement.