Aviation joint secy meets pilot unions

A top civil aviation ministry official today met unions of pilots and ground engineers as a part of the reconciliation process, and discussed some of the pending issues such as better utilisation of pilots as well as aircrafts.

Joint Secretary Prashant Sukul met two pilots bodies - the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) that represents over 800 pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines who went on a 10-day strike late last month and the Indian Pilots Guild; and the Air India Engineers Association - here.

Though the Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav was in the town, he did not attend the meetings. During their strike, ICPA had demanded Jadhav's ouster and a CBI probe into alleged corruption at the national carrier.

ICPA President Captain Rishab Kapur told PTI that meeting with Sukul focused primarily on better aircraft utilisation.

"Now the average utilisation of an aircraft is only 9 hours, and we want it to be raised to at least 12 hours to begin with, which should be raised further gradually," Kapur said.

When asked whether Sukul agreed to the demand, Kapur said the ministry did not make a firm commitment, but only promised to consider it. Kapur further said this was the least the management could do to help revive the ailing carrier.

The AI Engineers Association could not be contacted for comments, while an official of the IPG (which represents 165-odd executive pilots) said their demand was more or less met.