Air India braces for long tussle with pilots

Mumbai, May 24 (IANS) Bracing for a long-drawn tussle with its striking pilots, beleaguered Air India has announced a truncated interim schedule for June, dropping several international destinations from its regular routine.

The interim schedule, effective from June 2-30, was announced late Wednesday by the national carrier. Under this, Air India has decided to axe seven international flights daily and to operate only 38 services instead of regular schedule of 45.

While flights to the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Singapore, Thailand and SAARC countries shall be operated as usual, destinations like Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul and Toronto have been dropped from the interim schedule.

"This is mainly to avoid last minute anxiety to passengers and also enable travellers to plan out their journeys as per the interim schedule," an official told IANS.

However, the official assured that all domestic operations of Air India shall be operated as per normal schedules without any disruptions on account of the ongoing 16-day long agitation by 101 members of the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG).

Building up pressure on the striking pilots, the Air India Wednesday decided to take back one sacked pilot but referred to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation at least 100 pilots whose 'sick' leave has exceeded 15 days limit for medical examination.

The IPG has demanded that all the pilots whose services have been terminated over the past fortnight must be re-instated.