DAY FIVE: Jet cancels 281 flights

Jet Airways today cancelled 281 flights, 21 of them international, as the strike by the pilots entered the fifth day after marathon talks between them and the management ended in a deadlock.

The pilots said they were "hopeful" of a breakthrough today as negotiations between the management and National Aviators' Guild (NAG), the union leading the agitation over sacking of some pilots, will resume in Mumbai this evening.

"We have cancelled 281 flights for the day. Of these, 260 are domestic and 21 international," a Jet spokesperson told PTI. The private carrier operates 365 domestic and 74 international flights daily.

The spokesperson, however, did not give the number of pilots who reported sick today. Jet had yesterday said 495 out the total 1,056 pilots had not joined duty, reporting sick.

Yesterday, the pilots and the management representatives sat for face-to-face negotiations for the first time since the stir started on Tuesday, but the nine-hour-long talks before the Chief Labour Commissioner in Delhi ended inconclusively.

The pilots, before heading for negotiations today, would discuss yesterday's development among themselves.

The Guild is demanding reinstatement of four sacked pilots, two of them fired from service during the stir that began on September 8, but the management is insisting on dissolving the union before taking them back.