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Air India operated only 40 of its 320 flights, cancelling 90 per cent of flights for the second consecutive day. This is while the stalemate between the AI management and the striking pilots continued into the sixth day.
The same number of flight operations is expected to continue throughout the duration of the pilots' strike, said an Air India spokesperson.
By including the operation of flights by Alliance Air, additional wide bodied flights and Air India Express' B737, Air India will offer 106 domestic flights for the next few days. The schedule of the curtailed operations till May 6 have been finalised and put up on the airline's Web site.
Air India's daily seat offerings have come down to 9,500 seats as against 30,000-32,000 on normal days, said Civil Aviation Ministry officials.
Private airlines have benefited from this, as they are carrying close to 15,000-16,000 of Air India's domestic passengers resulting in an increase in the passenger load factor by up to 7 per cent.
The international sector, though, remains unaffected. All of Air India's 45 daily flights on the long haul routes to the US, the UK, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea continue to operate normally, and on schedule.
Meanwhile, the airline's management has decided to stick to its stand of not holding talks with the striking pilots till they get back to work.
The Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Vayalar Ravi, said, “We will not surrender to the pilots. But we are open to talks.”
The Minister also said that the Government will wait and abide by the Delhi High Court's order in the Contempt of Court proceeding initiated on the plea of the Air India management.
The Delhi High Court heard both the pilots and the management on Monday and adjourned the matter till May 3.
The Court has asked striking Air India pilots to take a decision on resuming their work, warning “this strike will not see another day”.
“You call off the strike, we will press the management to consider your demand,” a division Bench of Mr Justice B.D. Ahmed and Ms Justice Beena Birbal told the striking pilots.
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