Virtually shutting the doors on the striking Air India pilots, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh today said the sacked cockpit crew could return only if they applied afresh when new pilots are inducted.
“As far as we are concerned, the pilot’s strike is over. If the (striking) pilots don’t accept Dharmadhikari report which is part of the airline’s turnaround plan, I don’t think there is any point in their coming back....If terminated pilots want to come back, they will have to apply afresh,” Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh told reporters in New Delhi.
His comments came on the 30th day of the agitation when the Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) members staged silent marches in Delhi and Mumbai to press for their demands relating to career progression, apart from reinstatement of their 101 sacked colleagues and recognition of their union.
Indicating that the sacked pilots could be replaced by new ones, Mr. Singh said 90 pilots were currently undergoing training and would be available for flying in August.
“We’re making sure we have enough resources — pilots and engineers to operate the new flights we have planned,” he said in reply to a spate of questions on the pilots’ strike.
“They (pilots) have decided not to come back. They have trashed the Dharmadhikari Report” which recommended several steps for integration of the staff of the two erstwhile airlines post their 2007 merger, he said.
“Our stand is that the strike is illegal. The High Court has also said it. They also did not give notice (for the strike)... They are still welcome if they want to come back, but there should be no pre-condition,” Mr. Singh said.
International operations to get boost
Mr. Singh unveiled new plans for international operations of Air India, including starting of two new flights to Kuala Lumpur and London and resuming operations to Hong Kong, Osaka and Seoul by August 1.
The Minister also announced that three Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircrafts will be inducted into the fleet this month.
“For the initial six to eight weeks, the first aircraft will be used on domestic routes to enable trainees to practice landings and take-offs and the first long-haul flight of the aircraft will be in August between Mumbai and London and Australia operations will commence in August-September.” Mr. Singh told a press conference.
Regarding the issue of compensation being sought by the national carrier from Boeing for delay in delivery of the B--787s, Mr. Singh said the airline Board had moved a proposal after talking to the U.S. manufacturer. “It will come up before the CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) soon.”
Asked whether the government wanted to privatise or sell off Air India now or at a later date, he said, “At present, there is no such proposal and we are not considering it.”
On AI’s new global flight plan, he said it included starting of a new flight to Kuala Lumpur, using the B-787 on Mumbai-London sector from August one and launching of Australia operations from August-September with these new planes.
“By November (when winter schedule begins), Air India’s international operations will be further expanded. With this, the entire original Air India network of 27 stations shall not only be fully restored, but expanded also,” he said.
Flights to Hong Kong, Osaka, Toronto and Seoul, stopped when the strike began, would be restored over the next few months. Hong Kong would be connected by a narrow-body Airbus A-319 from July and this service would be extended to Osaka and Seoul from August one, Mr. Singh said.
Keywords: Civil Aviation Ministry, Ajit Singh, Air India
sir,please solve the present crisis first.Think of future later.If u can
not solve the present what u will do in future.
Whatever said and done, if pilots have not fared well then the aviation minister has not come out winner either. It is a pity that management had no solution to 30 days old strike. It speaks of the team of people who are advising the hon. minister with shallow ideas. Air India could have taken all the pilots with conditions instead of taking hard stance. Is the Air India and minister is right or pilots are also right?. It takes two to clap. The time has come for both the parties to think positive and bring normalacy.Is Dharmadhikari report is the panacea for the ailing airline? Why is govt and opposition is quite and whereas the travelling public is suffering.
Just sell the planes and auction the buildings and offices as prime real estate in Mumbai recoup some of the losses, declare the airline bankrupt and lay off all the management and pilots. Absorb the other disciplines like engineers and other ground duty lower level staff in other departments to save these employees from this tax sucking black hole called Air India.
Instead of bailing the Maharaja out it's now a good time for the GOI to bail out of Maharaja which being without a pilot (ironically) is going to crash and burn anyways.
A fundamental principle of successful negotiation is:- hard
negotiation - yes; humiliation - no! Diplomacy means always leaving a
door ajar! If one group is already eating humble pie, a good
negotiator should be able to get an excellent deal, by letting the
other party retain some dignity, of course after extracting a good
bargain first, but in private!!
One swallow doesn't make a summer, and the company/management will
need to continue interacting with all its staff, and need their active
cooperation in the future to improve the company and its standards.
Hopefully the negotiations will not leave too bitter a state in the
mouths of any particular group of staff, even if rigid labour
practices are done away with forever!
AI will fetch a better price with manageable labour relations than
without it, and privatisation (with FDI?) should not be ruled out.
I have no sympathy for the striking pilots and the court has already declared the strike illegal than for what the pilots are taking out silent processions ? The role of unions also need to be scrutinized vis a vis their outrageous demands. Can anyone ask these stupid pilots how their career can progress when the organization itself is stagnant and in the red ? When the organization grows there will be growth oppurtunities for all. Also why they want to take away the right of IA pilots for training on new planes? to blackmail ?
Mr Ajit Singh, please dont relent now and let us have it this way or that way.
@ Binny, I agree with your comments @100/100. I have also blacklisted AI for my travels-abroad since more than a decade.
Till the time airline remains with government, no one can save it. No
organisation in the world can survive by discriminating employees.
For the government(minister) air India pilots who worked more than him, is not important. If u
want to make air India profitable then for the politicians and minister should pay before fly
rule should come.
I appreciate the stand taken by the government. How long could the pilots
keep airlines as hostage?? They repeatedly goes for strike even after
drawing one of the highest salary by any professional.
Minister Ajit Singh, in refreshing contrast to his illustrious predecessor, deserves our
thanks for the manner in which he is dealing with the strike by the pilots of Air India.
The pilots are a pampered lot and conceding to their demands, which are no doubt
sky-high, will only spur them to make similar demands at every opportune moment
and thus hold the country to ransom. It is high time that the question of selling this
concern to some private operators is considered seriously which is the only option
available now.
The business of any democratically elected government is to govern not manage and
operate an airline. What the Govt. of India has successfully managed to accomplish is
to destroy Air India via cronyism-one way to insure that friends and families of politicians got a free ride in first class. Ignorant readers seem to to congratulate Ajit
Singh. They turn a blind-eye to his real motivation in holding on to Air India, to have
complete control of Indias assets in the hands of politicians, and not to market
forces. Air India is a business and as a business it runs on the dictates of market
forces , not on the whims and whips of public servants. Ajit Singh is in a deep
slumber. The pilots are waking him up. I for one congratulate and support the pilots
and encourage them to persevere in their righteous movement.
No matter what I will always fly with AIR INDIA, I would never go with any foreign airlines, when I can fly in a plane with my National Flag. If the pilots dont respect working for India's Air travel Industry, they can walk away but not act in a manner that impacts and hampers the services and brings any loss to AIR INDIA.
Unfortunately we have people like poster Binny that are contributing disrespect to our National interests.
The tough stance taken by the Minister is laudable. Perhaps he has the support of PM and other cabinet ministers on this task. He is confident that he will deliver what he says then what will happen to the striking pilots,who are neither withdrawing the strike nor coming for talks. Let us watch who wins the striking pilot or the Minister.
Indicating that the sacked pilots could be replaced by new ones, Mr. Singh said 90 pilots were currently undergoing training and would be available for flying in August.
Regarding this statement i do want to clarify whether its safe to travel in AI in future.
I am not sure if AI or the people who work for this national carrier ever think on keeping them as one/only option for the travellers who decide fly back to India. I had a honour on 3rd May to take a AI flight from Dubai international airport T1 to Mumbai. When i approached the duty officier for confirmation on my CONFIRMED ticket, he acted strange like i dont belong there. Even he avoided looking at me, so i can request him to check the status of my ticket. There were atleast 15-20 people (some elderly old women)waiting for his service and he was talking over his phone about his duty schedule to someone.
I wish they will ever change in the future.
Manmohan Singh, Pranab, Sonia, and Congress must learn from how Ajit
Singh has refused to back down in this war of attrition, and rightly
so. If only the rest of government showed a similar spine in policy
making and difficult economic decisions without capitulating to
unreasonable demands made by coalition allies and opposition, our
economy can be set right in a short span of time, and 8% growth rates
and a strong currency can once again be achieved. There must be zero
tolerance for vandalism and other forms of disruptive protests,
including bandhs which put the public to inconvenience.
Not good business logic at all. AI has always focused on one or two stop connectivities when folks prefer to fly direct. What business sense does it make to extend the service from Hong Kong to Seoul and Osaka when there are direct flights available to those cities?
Also, AI's focus on BOM and DEL has always been a shortsighted approach. Carriers like Emirates make hay by operating umpteen number of flights to other cities of India.
Yes indeed it should have been done long back. Tough action against the irresponsible and irrational pilots need to be taken. It is high time the Government initiates disciplinary action if the pilots do not toe & respect the committee's report. Every time there is a strike the passengers are put to unnecessary hardships for no fault of theirs. Recruit and give employement opportunities to the new young guys who are willing to fly without compromising on the safety and security standards set by the DGCA. Wish and pray this comes to a conclusion fast. The public cannot be held ransom. Wishing the Maharaja to be in full swing on the air once again and up the image of Indians.
The pilots have failed the system, showing arrogance of the worst order. Those who wasted tax payer's money through illegal, irresponsible strike do not deserve government salary.
To the Air India's EX-PILOTS associated with IPG I would say : Is it fair that air-taxi drivers should earn Rs 8 lakh/month while missile, space scientist of DRDO, ISRO who work on cutting edge technologies earn less than one-fourth of that??? The entire airline industry is suffering because of overpaid pilots who are also indisciplined (many reporting drunk). All airline companies should unite to cut down pilot salaries to Rs75,000/month fixed (for commanders), Rs50,000/month fixed (for co-pilot) & Rs25,000/month fixed for trainee pilots. Even this amount is huge compared to what other taxi-drivers, loco-drivers earn. The money saved should be spent to improve passenger amenities/flying experience.
The Civil Aviation Minister has taken a bold and the correct stance. This cannot be tolerated and yes, it will take time to replace the striking pilots, but there are more than enough qaulified Capt's/ FO's available today in the aviation market. Mr. Minister do not back off, and once and for all let us put this great airline back on its feet. Air-India the worlds first all jet fleet airline had a great proud tradition and maybe -just maybe- this will put them back on top, where she belongs.
It is high time that there should be a variable pay attached to salary of the AI personnel. This variable pay should be linked to overall profits made by AI. This will improve the quality of service provided by AI personnel and will prevent AI personnel going on strikes. AI personnel have no concern for its customers and entirely depend on the Government bailing them out with tax payer’s money. After receiving a bailout, they still don’t treat the customer aka tax payer well. This is indeed a bold step taken by Aviation Minister. These AI personnel who went on strike should never be rehired. This will prevent future strikes like this.
The Government can better privatise Air India and wash off its hand giving some guarantee for employees to continue their job with the ever sick airlines.The Government cannot afford to capitalise such sick enterprise when they are facing serious crunch for funds.Under Government control the Air India cannot make a turnaround now or in future.
Good he is talking tough to the white elephant of the Indian sky. Let
him offer to privatize Air India. That will bring in lot more co-
operation from the staff.
I say starve the beast and minister Mr. Ajit Singh for once has made us proud. The AI pilots and their dysfunctional union have been jerking us around for too long. They have inconvenienced the travelling people with a threat of a blackmail. Speaking of rewarding the failure, the AI pilots have been a beneficiary of generous salary and perks while delivering abysmal service. The unruly pilot must be shown the door while the others must earn our trust by competing with best (other airlines). The government ministers must also do their part by not taking undue advantages by curtailing free ride for their immediate and extended families and to other exotic places. Otherwise, AI issue is unmitigated disaster for India during in these tough times. The government must also find way to dispose it off, before it becomes too toxic to be an asset (meaning no suitable buyers!)before it is too late.
Congrat's Mr. Agit Singh for the strong decision. You should save our
National Carrier by taking strong decision and long term plan. These
pilots who are earning 5Lakhs/m striking for what? They want to exploit
our National Carrier? This is not acceptable! Recruit new pilots and
give them job. Also take reasonable fare from the passengers. Create a
Strong Base for AIR INDIA...! JAI HINDH.
Hats off to Ajit Singh for taking such a bold step and ensuring such employee "hijacks" will not happen. Please ensure that these strikings pilot rats do not sneak into Air India through back doors. As taxpayers we are proud of you. Expect similar steps in the oil companies and let them come with a formula on how the petrol price is computed and issue a whitepaper on the perks/salaries of the oil company employees.
By continuing a strike that was declared illegal by the High Court, the Air India pilots have made themselves un- employable. It is a proper thing that Air India is seeking compensation from Boeing for the delay in delivery of 787 aircraft. The Management must cut out the flab through various measures including VRS. Give up routes that are uneconomic, cut down the senior staff who are redundant, reduce wasteful expenditure and then look for investment from outside.
And who will travel in them unless there is an utmost urgency. The service of the flight attendants is pathetic. The air-hostess are not welcoming. They are like lady police officers roaming in flights. The airfares are not competitive. It looks too costly for the service you will get.
They should emulate Jet Airways. The service is the best in the world. The whole world cannot match the service with the price.
I want to see similar stances from government side who do losses to public properties in various rail-roko, bandhs, hardtals etc. Peaceful demostration should be encouraged while such activities like stopping the services should not be promoted on any grounds.
You can not harden your instance, to the extent it has already been done. In a situation of severe Pilot shortage, especially commanders, this is bound to boomerang. As AI is a government buttressed company there will be no loss at the personal level though.
As they say, you can take a horse to river but can't force it to drink. AI lately has been nothing less than a vampire, sucking onto taxpayers' money. Frequent strikes, pathetic service and below par pilots are the net achievement of AI. Time for govt. to promulgate hard policies that can keep its appetite in check and pilots within limits.
Why do people still book in Air India? It is because it offers the cheapest fares. Not everybody can afford to pay 50% or more fares in the other airlines. There are millions of expats in Gulf whose salary is so low that they can afford to travel only once every two or three years. for them, there is no alternative. Wish everybody has the same financial resources as Mr.Binny. The solution is for the Govt to act tough and sack the striking pilots. For every pilot sacked, there are hundred more willing to fill that vacancy - at a lower cost as well.
While he sounds assertive and firm and seems to open up all routes which
AI was flying to before Praful Kumar botched up the airline, I hope he
is not serious about saying that domestic routes are used for "practice"
initially. All lives are equal whether they fly domestic or
international.
Sacking of notorious pilots known for frequent and illegal strikes was long overdue action by Civil Aviation Ministry. Had this happened earlier, we wouldn't have seen such irresponsible act of pilots. The twin challenge before ministry and AI now is successful managing existing operation and up scaling the new operations purely on commercial basis.
Correct decision concerning the sacked pilots..........For once....
they should not be taken back... they will infect the other sincere pilots..........
A very good initiative. It is also good that the government is strong in
dealing with the strike. These pilots have allowed all the wrong things
to go on in AI and now when there is some turnaround plan they are
opposing it shamelessly with only selfish motives.
Hope the Honourable Minister does not do a volte face! The sacking of Pilots is a gutsy step forward and reminds one of Ronald Regan sacking around 10,000 ATCs in the USA. Minister is right in the sense that the AI pilots are the ones who have been stalling the merger of AI-IC and with no sign of them accepting the meger it is better that AI looks at alternate avenues. Also, with so many of the pilots on strike and AI still maintaining 75% of their schedule is laudable and kudos to AI on this issue!
compliments to sri ajit singh for taking a firm stand and not yielding DADAGIRI of the pilots i wish that his example inspire other ministers and infuse some courage in them.If you are upright remain firm HAIL AVIATION MINISTER Sri AJIT SINGH.
Mr. Ajit Singh has shown that Govt can not be arm twisted by such illegal strikes and 'sick' leaves. But some soft corner can be shown towards the 'terminated' pilots with condition that they will never repeat any such act with a bond of say Rs. 20 lakh. To get new pilots and train them will take time and Air India is in crisis and time is less with it. But hats-off to Mr. Singh.
Did you just say ' to practice landings and take-offs' ?
Air India's cancellation of services, dishonoring customers needs etc. are not new. It has been continued by them since long years. Further, Air India always take advantage on gulf sector by providing bad service and old air crafts with increased ticket fares whereas they provide new air crafts to European and American sector and every body in Gulf countries aware about this. Then why all Indian expatriates still depends on this service. If all Indians in gulf decide to boycott this pity service, there will be no chaos, no complaints. However, even though Air India routinely doing this, surprisingly most of the Indians still book their tickets in Air India. I am an expatriate in Dubai with family for the last ten years. I can proudly say that myself or my family never traveled by this notorious and Lethargic Air India. If these organizations having any commitment, let them educate all expatriates just to avoid booking in this flight.
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