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With passenger carriage by Air India on both international and domestic flights increasing, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has hardened its stand against the agitating pilots.
“If the striking pilots do not accept the Dharamadhikari committee report, which is part of the turnaround plan for Air India, I do not think any point in them coming back. If terminated pilots want to come back, they will have to apply when Air India issues advertisements,” the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Ajit Singh, said on Wednesday.
The Dharmadikari Committee had been formed to bring about integration between the workforce of former international carrier Air India and domestic carrier Indian post the merger of the two state-owned airlines.
For the past one month, a section of Air India pilots belonging to the erstwhile international arm are on agitation protesting various management decisions including offering training on the Boeing 787 to erstwhile pilots of Indian.
The Minister announced that Air India currently has 90 trainee pilots, of whom 60 pilots are undergoing training and will be available for regular flights in the next 4-5 months. “Air India has also decided to recruit from the domestic and international market,” the Minister said.
Air India officials indicated that the airline will look to hire about 100 co-pilots.
The Minister said that Air India was carrying about 26,000 passengers a day on its domestic flights, which is about the same number as was carried at the beginning of May before the agitation started. “On the international flights, the airline is carrying around 11,000 passengers a day,” Mr Singh said.
Meanwhile, from July 1, the airline is to start using an Airbus A-319 aircraft on the Hong Kong route and will extend the flight to Seoul and Osaka from August 1. The airline is also to launch a daily service on the Delhi-Kuala Lumpur sector from August 1.
The Minister announced that Air India will receive three Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft this month. The airline has ordered 27 Boeing 787 aircraft, the delivery of which has been delayed by about five years. “For the first 6-8 weeks, the aircraft will be deployed on domestic routes. The first international flight with the new aircraft will be between Mumbai-London in August followed by a flight to Australia the following month,” Mr Singh said.
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