Air India strike continues, flights cancelled

A protest by some Air India pilots entered its second day, forcing the flag carrier to cancel more international flights from Delhi and Mumbai.

An Air India spokesman said three international flights to Singapore, New York and Newark have been cancelled.

A television new channel however said as many as eleven international flights had been cancelled while others were delayed.

The agitating pilots and Air India officials are also expected to meet again on Wednesday after their meeting with the Central Labour Commissioner remained inconclusive.

Passengers were left stranded and complained that they were not being informed about the cancellation of their flights in advance.

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh, speaking to a private news channel, said the pilots have not approached him with their concerns yet.

The minister called strike illegal and added that while the government is trying to bail out the ailing airline, he expected the pilots to cooperate and be responsible.

Earlier on Tuesday, the airline sacked 10 agitating pilots and derecognised their union launching a major crackdown against the latest strike that saw around 160 pilots skip work by calling in sick.

As many as four international flights had to be cancelled because of the strike that was called after talks between the pilots and the management over better pay and job promotions failed, reports said.

The pilots were also miffed over the airline providing Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines that was merged with Air India, media reports said.

Air India management derecognised the union representing the agitating pilots, who belong to the pre-merger Air India, Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) and sealed its Mumbai offices.

The president of erstwhile IPG, also a colleague of former aviation minister Praful Patel at the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) called the airline's tough stance undemocratic.

Civil Aviation minister Ajit Singh, meanwhile, talked tough on the issue saying that the striking pilots should first decide what they want -- either keep the national carrier afloat or shut it down.

In a candid interview to a TV news channel Singh also said government cannot and should not run any industry, especially the service industry, supposedly to avoid arm-twisting by employees.

"If they want to shut down Air India they can do it very easily. And they have to decide what they want to do," Singh said.

"Air India employees should realise that it is their airline...Their progress and jobs depend if airline does well," the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief who assumed office last December, said.

He assured that the government would consider the issues raised by pilots and the recommendations of Dharmadhikari Report on integration of employees following the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines.

The strike over pay and promotion disputes comes just a month after the government cleared a massive Rs 30,000 crore bailout package for the ailing national carrier.

Earlier this year in January, 52 flights were cancelled in a day after 40 pilots called in sick protesting non-payment of their pending salary arrears.