400 Air India executive pilots go on strike

Protest against sharp cuts in productivity bonuses; management says contingency plan ready.

Around 400 executive pilots of Air India’s total pilot strength of 1,200 did not report for duty this evening, marking the start of an indefinite strike to protest against the airline management's decision to cut incentive pay as a means of cutting costs.

The airline, however, said flights operations would be normal because a contingency plan is in place.

“We are protesting against the 70 per cent cut in our incentives, which is unfair,” said V K Bhalla, leader of executive pilots association of the airline.

Bhalla claims that he has the support of Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), one of the airline's two pilot unions, the other being the Indian Pilots Guild. An ICPA representative, however, said the union was not going on strike but was extending moral support to the executive pilots.

On the management's part, Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav said he was meeting the pilots on Wednesday and Thursday next week to sort out any grievances they have against the proposed cut.

“We have a contingency plan in place if the pilots do not report for duty and we will make sure that the flights operate normally,” he told Business Standard.

The aviation ministry said it did not have any information on the strike by executive pilots. “Let them go on strike first, we will do what all needs to be done to normalise things,” said a senior ministry official.

The pilots are protesting against a decision by the Air India board on Wednesday to cut productivity-linked incentive (PLI) and flying allowance by 25 per cent for those getting PLI of Rs 10,000 or less to 50 per cent for those receiving PLI or flying-related allowances of Rs 2 lakh or more per month for all officers, including top management and executive pilots.

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