National carrier Air India on Saturday said it expects full normal operation of domestic flights from next week, as the striking pilots start reporting for work. Around 160 daily flights would be operated by Monday, from the current frequency of 40.
"Air India will be restoring over 50 per cent of all flights in the domestic network on Sunday (May 8) and expects full normal operations (100 per cent) by Monday (May 9)," said the airline in a statement.
"We will add around 120 flights from Sunday and will add another 40 by Monday," a senior official of Air India's operations arm said.
However, the carrier will take some time to resume its normal frequency, as the pilots returning to work will have to get their flying schedules and medical checkups done, he added.
According to the official, the crippling 10-day strike caused cancellation of around 1,470 flights and a revenue loss of Rs.120 crore. This figure is expected to climb as the airline restores its full operations.
"From a regular day, we are currently operating 185 flights less, and the revenue loss would be somewhere around Rs.12 crore per day," the official said.
With Saturday's curtailed operations, the cancelled flight figures now stand at 1,655 flights and a revenue loss of Rs.132 crore.
"We took some key decisions, like stopping ticket bookings, and chartering jets to ferry existing passengers, so now we don't have any backlog of passengers. So, we can start afresh and take some time to bring our entire capacity of flights on line," he added.
Industry experts say fares would come down as Air India starts operating the additional flights.
"Yes, there was huge apprehension about the air fares, because the demand is high, and this is a peak season, and Air India is one of the largest carriers. But now, with the strike ending, the fares will come back to normal," Ankur Bhatia, executive director of the Bird Group, a technology provider to the travel industry, said.
On late Friday, some 800-odd Air India pilots called off their 10-day old strike after the government and the pilots' union reached an 'understanding' on their demand for pay parity and fixed flying hours.
Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) general secretary Captain Rishab Kapoor said: "The strike has been called off and the pilots are resuming work tonight."
He added that the pilots 'trust and believe in the government and the Justice (retd) D.N. Dharmadhikari Committee', which was formed to look into human resource issues of the merger between Air India and Indian Airlines.
The pilots told the two-member panel of interlocutors with whom they were holding informal talks that they would honour any recommendations made by the committee.
The pilots who struck work from midnight April 26 belonged to the erstwhile Indian Airlines and were demanding pay parity with their colleagues in Air India since the two airlines merged into a single entity.
The two-member panel headed by Civil Aviation Joint Secretary P.N. Sukul, had apparently made an offer of fixed flying hours and a final settlement of all outstanding merger issues in accordance with recommendations made by Justice Dharamadhikari Committee.
"The fixed flying hours will guarantee us a sort of parity and fixed pay, unlike earlier when we earned our salaries on the basis of irregular and unscheduled flying hours," an ICPA official said.
Apart from fixed flying hours, the ministry also offered the pilots restoration of their union's recognised status and the reinstatement of eight sacked pilots.
Earlier, ministry officials discussed interim arrangement with both the Air India management and the striking pilots.
"We discussed proposals and arrangements for maintaining some normalcy in the airline, until the time the committee on pay parity gives its report in three months' time," said a ministry official.
A section of the striking pilots complained they were not satisfied with the arrangement between the ICPA and the ministry.
"We wanted immediate pay parity, they (ICPA representative) have put our future in the hands of a committee. We have got nothing, we are at the same position at which we went on the strike," executive pilot Captain V.K. Bhalla said.