90pc of Air India flights crippled, management urges talks

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Nearly 90 per cent of Air India's domestic flights were cancelled Sunday as almost half of the carrier's 1,600 pilots continued their strike for the fifth day, while it reported normal operations in the international sector.

According to an official, the airlines management sent an SMS appeal to the striking pilots to come back to the negotiating table.

"An appeal was sent to the employees and especially to the ones of ICPA (Indian Commercial Pilots Association) via SMS stating that the airline is a very critical juncture, financially as well as morally and that to reinstate the glory of the national carrier we all should come to the table and start a dialogue," he said.

Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav in his message also said that allegations of corruption levelled by the ICPA would be probed.

"Risking our airline's survival at this time is criminal. We all condemn corruption in public life and the culprits must be punished," the Air India chief said.

The management also sent an SMS message to employees asking them to persuade striking colleagues to join back work as the strike threatened its very survival.

"In order to save our airline, I appeal to you to cooperate and persuade our pilot friends to return to work, and discussions - let us start afresh," said the SMS message from Jadhav.

However, hundreds of passengers were again stranded across the country as the pilots, despite facing a possible six-month jail term for contempt of a Delhi High court order asking them to return to work, refused to budge.

Air India reportedly cancelled and re-scheduled 170 of its daily 225 domestic flights Sunday.

"We are operating only around 55 flights nationally, and have cancelled about 170," a senior official with the operational arm of the airline said.

The company said that all flight operations of its subsidiaries - Air India Express and Alliance Air - and those on international routes were on schedule.

For the domestic operations during the coming week the carrier's flight schedule would be substantially curtailed till May 6.

"The company would press into service the wide body aircraft B-747, B-777, AIE's B-737 and two aircraft availed from external sources. The schedule has been drawn to minimise the impact of the disruption of the flights and to ensure least inconvenience to passengers," said a statement from the airline.

The ICPA had demanded a probe into various decisions taken by Jadhav, including a land transfer deal at the Mumbai airport.

Passengers continued to face hardships and pay hefty fares to other private airlines for a last-minute ticket that costs 50-75 percent higher.

The strike till Sunday is said to have caused a net loss of Rs.46 crore to the airline, which is already facing one of its worst financial crises with losses mounting to nearly $3 billion since 2007 when Indian Airlines was merged with Air India.

The Delhi High Court on Friday had initiated contempt proceedings against the members of the ICPA, the union behind the strike whose members were on the payroll of erstwhile Indian Airlines.

Justice Gita Mittal initiated suo moto criminal contempt of court proceedings against the union after its members refused to return to work despite her earlier order, restraining them from going ahead with the strike or holding further demonstrations.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday sought a probe into the ‘mismanagement’ of the airline and said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should answer ‘who was responsible for the mess’.

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy, a former civil aviation minister, said that Air India was being run by the prime minister's secretariat and said the possibility of a partial lock-out could be a ploy to shut down the national carrier.