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In what could delay flights being operated by Air India, the Indian Pilots Commercial Association (ICPA) has asked its members not to operate a flight in case it is getting delayed and if a pilot’s working hours are ending.
This latest communication to pilots from ICPA came just hours before Ashwani Lohani took over as Air India’s Chairman and Managing Director here on Monday.
High stress levels In a communication to its members, ICPA has also said that frequent changes in programmed flights and pull outs at short notice due to the acute shortage of pilots are adding to the already increased stress levels leading to “severe fatigue conditions” endangering flight safety.
“In the interest of flight safety and safety of our innocent passengers we are directing our members not to give extension on Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on Flight and Duty Time period,” the ICPA has said.
CAR lays down how much rest a pilot must get between flights and stipulates the number of daily and monthly take-offs and landings.
Air India stipulates that the daily Flight Duty time for a pilot is 8 hours while the daily duty timing for a pilot is 11 hours.
The Flight Duty Time for an AI pilot begins when the aircraft pushes back while the duty time begins from the time a pilot report’s for duty at the airport.
Category change The pilots are resorting to these tactics after the airline’s Management decided to take them out of the category of workmen.
Earlier this month Deepa Mahajan, Executive Director (P & IR) AI, had issued an order which said, “the Ministry of Labour & Employment has after, evaluation, in light of the duties and responsibilities of ‘Pilot in Command’ (PIC) in Air India, as referred under Rule 141 of Aircraft Act 1934 and Rules made thereafter observed that the duties and responsibilities of Pilot in Command are of Managerial and Administrative nature which may not fall in the definition of the ‘Workman under section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947.”
In effect what this means is that an AI pilot in command is a Manager and an administrative category of pilot which forbids him or her from forming a union.
There is a feeling in Airlines House, the headquarters of Air India, that the notification of August 20 gives legal sanctity to a practice that the erstwhile Indian Airlines has been following for over two decades.
Air India officials, however, downplayed the entire incident saying that they were confident that flight operations will not be affected.
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