Air India’s operations were affected on Friday with pilots declining to operate flights. Till this afternoon at least eight flights from Mumbai and five from Delhi had been affected due to the pilot action. The delays ranged from one to two hours.
The reasons behind the pilots’ action were not immediately clear. Some attributed it to a circular issued on Thursday which said a clarification has been given by the Ministry of Labour and Employment regarding differentiation in the categories of Air India pilots — that is, between a pilot in command and a ‘co-pilot’. Other said it was Air India’s decision to send a proposal to the Ministry of Civil Aviation imposing a cutback of as much as 25 per cent in the pay scales of the pilots. On Thursday, Deepa Mahajan, Executive Director (P&IR) 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 in 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 AI PICs are managers and belong to the administrative category of pilots, which forbids them from forming a union. There is a feeling in Airlines House, the airline’s headquarters, that the August 20 notification gives legal sanctity to a practice that the erstwhile Indian Airlines has been following for over two decades.