The war between national carrier Air India’s pilots flying international and domestic routes worsened on Wednesday after Air India informed the Bombay high court that the training schedule of pilots for the new Boeing 787 dreamliner had been deferred by a month. The domestic pilots have now told the Air India management not to succumb to the pressure exerted by the pilots of the erstwhile Air India international carrier. The erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines were merged four years ago to form the unified carrier Air India but the pilots remain strongly divided.
On Wednesday, Air India told the Bombay high court that the training has been deferred for a month in view of negotiations between the Air India management and the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) which comprise pilots of the airline flying on international routes and part of the erstwhile Air India before merger. The Bombay high court was hearing a petition filed by IPG, which challenged the decision of the airline management to draw equal number of pilots from the erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines to train them for the new Boeing 787.
In a letter to the Air India management, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), comprising the domestic pilots of the national carrier who were part of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, have told the management that hundreds of domestic pilots were now demanding a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the management (so that the domestic pilots will not have to serve a six-month notice period in case they decide to quit). This comes in the wake of 101 international-route pilots earlier asking for such an NoC. The ICPA also expressed anguish at the Air India decision.