Air India (AI) has deferred the training schedule for pilots for the new Boeing 787 from this Thursday to the month end amidst protests from the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) over the issue. AI informed the Bombay High Court about the decision to defer the training as negotiations were on with the IPG to sort out matters.
“In view of the weather conditions and winter schedule, the training has been deferred taking into consideration the crew requirements in the winter season,” an AI spokesperson said.
IPG, which represents pilots of the erstwhile AI, has been at loggerheads with the AI management charging it with adopting a discriminatory attitude against them vis-a-vis their erstwhile Indian Airlines counterparts. “The management should refrain from taking any unilateral decision with respect to B 787 until a comprehensive career progression plan is formulated for all pilots. The IPG is willing to co-operate and work with the management to formulate such a plan,” an IPG spokesperson said.
A petition was filed by IPG challenging the decision of the AI management to draw equal number of pilots from the erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines to train them for the state-of-the-art Dreamliner. The petition sought a stay on the proposed slots for training of pilots for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which would be inducted into the airline’s fleet early next year.
According to IPG members, the flying experience of Indian Airlines pilots was far less than that of the Air India pilots and they wanted the 1:1 policy to be changed.
The IPG wants that only pilots of erstwhile AI should be trained on these aircraft which are meant to be flown on long-haul international routes. Around 100 AI pilots of IPG had, two days ago, sent a signed letter to the AI management threatening to quit, stating that they were “compelled to seek a no-objection certificate so that we may consider seeking employment elsewhere.”