Govt asks airlines to take strike-hit AI passengers

With 180 Air India pilots continuing their agitation for the fourth day, the government today requested other airlines to accommodate the passengers already booked on the national carrier whose flights are being cancelled.

Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar held a meeting with senior officials of all the private airlines to work out an alternate plan to ease inconvenience of the passengers who are booked on the cancelled flights.

"We have asked the private airlines to provide smooth passenger facilitation and also not to escalate fares so that passengers face minimal inconvenience," Nambiar told reporters after the meeting.

He reached out to the private airlines as 180 Air India pilots continued to abstain from duty, reporting "sick", to protest against cut in perks. The agitation resulted in cancellation of 46 flights today, mostly in Delhi and Mumbai.

Nambiar said a mechanism has been put in place to monitor that airlines don't escalate ticket prices.He also asked the airport operators to provide necessary facilities to the passengers.

The Civil Aviation Secretary expressed hope that the deadlock would soon end.

Asked whether there were any plans to invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against agitating pilots, he replied in the negative.