Air India pilots warn of strike

The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) – the second largest association of Air India (AI) pilots – has threatened to go on strike over the management’s decision to allot half of the 64 training slots for Boeing 787 Dreamliners to erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA) pilots.

The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) – the second largest association of Air India (AI) pilots – has threatened to go on strike over the management’s decision to allot half of the 64 training slots for Boeing 787 Dreamliners to erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA) pilots.

HT Image

The issue could snowball into a major controversy as 25 pilots reported sick on Friday, forcing the carrier to combine two flights. As first reported by HT on Thursday, 16 pilots had reported sick in the past two days. IPG has started a secret ballot among its members on whether they should proceed with the strike.

“The order for Dreamliners was placed in 2005 by AI when the merger hadn’t taken place. While IA pilots got to fly the 43 Airbus aircraft that were ordered at the same time, delivery of Dreamliners was delayed. Now, when the delivery of Dreamliners is to start, the same precedent should be followed,” an IPG spokesperson said.

“Giving away slots to IA pilots will adversely affect our career prospects. There is no shortage of pilots in AI as 120 pilots are on deputation to AI Express and another 80 have completed their command training,” he added.