Three air india international flights hit by pilot stir

State-owned airline Air India (AI) could be headed for fresh trouble over the Boeing 787 Dreamliner training issue.

Three AI flights to prime international destinations — New York, Toronto and Chicago — were affected on Saturday as pilots did not report for duty.

While the Delhi-New York flight, which was to depart at 1.45 am on Saturday, hadn’t left till late on Saturday night, the Delhi-Toronto flight scheduled to depart at 2 am left only at 5.30 pm. The Delhi-Chicago flight was also delayed as the airline management scrambled to arrange for pilots after seven pilots rostered for duty reported sick.

An AI official said that a Delhi-Singapore flight for Sunday had been cancelled.

Pilots belonging to AI as it existed in the pre-merger days and who fly international routes are unhappy with the management’s decision to allow pilots belonging to the erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA) to train for the Dreamliner.