The Delhi high court declared the Air India pilots’ strike “illegal” on Wednesday and barred the pilots from any protest action, even as the government terminated the services of 26 more pilots, taking the total number of sacked pilots to 36.
Till late Wednesday, the striking pilots remained defiant. Top government sources said more sackings were imminent, and downsizing of the airline’s international operations was an option if the situation did not improve. The government made it clear discussions with the striking international-route pilots could take place only if “disruptions” end. On Wednesday, Air India said five international flights were cancelled while six more flights of its low-cost arm Air India Express were also cancelled.
Passengers complained of poor and indifferent treatment at the hands of the airline while Air India said all steps were being taken to minimise the inconvenience of passengers. The five flights Air India said were cancelled were Delhi-New York, Delhi-Frankfurt, Delhi-Singa-pore, Mumbai-Newark and Mumbai-Jeddah. The cancellation of flights could cause Air India a huge loss of over `10 crores per day. The issue was also raised in Parliament on Wednesday.
In the Delhi high court, Justice Reva Khetrapal said in her order: “The defendant No. 1 (IPG), its members, agents and office-bearers are restrai-ned from illegal strike. The pilots are also restrained from reporting sick, holding dharnas, staging demonstrations or resorting to any other modes of strike in and outside the company’s offices in Delhi and other regional offices.” She also said allowing such a strike to continue will cause irreparable loss to the company and huge inconvenience to passengers travelling by the national carrier.
Late Wednesday evening, a representative of the pilots said: “We are open for talks. We have approached the AI management and the civil aviation ministry. But there has been no response.” Air India said continuation of the strike “will be in contempt of court”.
Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh was quoted as saying that the government has “a backup plan (to deal with the strike)”, and added: “We can downsize... If the employees are not interested that AI should expand, then the government is not going to provide money to it.” The minister said the strike was totally unjustified, and that the pilots would “face the consequences” if they did not return to work.