Air India terminated the services of 30 more pilots on Monday. This takes to 101 the number of pilots whose services have been terminated by the state owned airline since the agitation began 18 days ago.
Meanwhile, breaking ranks two pilots, who had gone on sudden sick leave, reported back to duty in Mumbai on Monday. Normal airline operations have been affected since May 4 when a section of pilots started reporting sick.
The agitation is causing a daily revenue loss of Rs 12-15 crore to the Maharaja. The pilots are agitating against the management decision to train pilots of the erstwhile Indian on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Air India has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft and the first is expected to join the fleet at the end of the month.
Interestingly, even as the agitation continues, pilots of erstwhile Indian and Air India continue to train overseas to fly the Dreamliner.
Domestic flight also hit
Sources indicated that though the agitation is being led by pilots operating flights to the UK, Europe, the US and Canada among others, the industrial unrest was also affecting the carriage of flights on domestic flights operated by the airline.
“Air India carries a lot of passengers who transfer from an international flight to a domestic flight and on their return flight also.
This number has seen a drastic drop of about 2,500-3,000 passengers a day,” a senior airline official said.
Government officials and senior airlines officials are worried that the agitation could impact the Government decision to provide Rs 30,000 crore to Air India over 10 years.
The Government has made it clear that the funds will be released only if the airline sees an increase in passenger carried and aircraft utilisation.
The current agitation has seen the airline truncate its normal international services, a move which is bound to lead a decline in passenger carried and aircraft utilisation.