As the strike by nearly half of Air India's 1,600 pilots entered the sixth day on Monday, the Delhi High Court was set to hear a contempt petition against their union's office bearers, who were ordered to call off their agitation last week.
The court of Justice Gita Mittal had on Friday initiated contempt proceedings against the members of the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association, the union behind the strike whose members were on the payrolls of erstwhile Indian Airlines.
They are demanding parity in pay with their counterparts in Air India, into which Indian Airlines was merged in 2007 after creating a separate corporate entity - the state-run National Aviation Company of India Ltd.
In the midst of the deadlock between the striking pilots and the management, 90 percent of Air India's domestic flights and those to some regional international destinations were disrupted, even as the carrier said other overseas operations were normal.
Air India has some 1,600 pilots on its rolls and operates some 320 flights daily.