Civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi on Monday personally intervened and appealed to agitated Air India (domestic) pilots to withdraw their call for a strike on Wednesday but pilots said late on Monday evening that they have not withdrawn their strike call and will take a decision by Tuesday.
“Please withdraw the strike call,” Mr Ravi requested the pilots at a meeting that lasted till late on Monday evening. He later told reporters, “My impression is that they will accept my suggestion.” The minister — who referred to the agitating pilots as his “children” — said he had given them a patient hearing. “I told them why I had appointed a committee (to be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge) to look into the issues that they have raised,” he said. The minister added that civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi will look into the suggestions of the pilots and also said he had asked the pilots to hold talks with the Air India management.
But soon after the meeting, the pilots said, “We have not withdrawn the strike call. We will take into account the attitude of the Air India management before taking a decision on the matter,” said one of the agitating pilots.
Air India’s domestic pilots say there are pay disparities between them and the airline’s international pilots. “We are paid by the hour. Since the merger, our number of flying hours have reduced by about 70 per cent. We are being paid 70 per cent less compared to what we used to get before the merger. Also, we would earlier get free tickets for our family on the routes we used to operate including to Singapore and the Gulf. But that has stopped now. We have suffered because of the merger,” said a domestic pilot.
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IAF officer faces probe for bribe
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
March 7: The IAF has ordered a Court of Inquiry after an IAF officer of the rank of wing commander allegedly demanded a bribe of `20,000 from a foreign global aviation company for a prominent static display for its aircraft at the recently-held Aero India air-show at Bengaluru. The foreign company is one of the companies in the race to bag the deal for acquisition of 126 combat aircraft for the IAF.