Pay full salary, else we won’t fly, say Air India pilots

Flying allowance yet to be disbursed, alleges union

On collision course: The pilots said the management alone would be responsible for disruption of flights.

A section of Air India (AI) pilots have written to the airline’s top brass demanding that their salaries be paid in full, failing which, they will not report for flying duty.

AI had delayed the payment of salaries for the fifth consecutive time with July emoluments paid just a couple of days ago.

However, the pilots wrote that the flying allowance remained to be paid.

‘Report for office duty’

“If the flying allowance is not paid immediately, we may not be available to the company for flying duties. Since the company has paid the (basic) salary, we will report to the office for any office duty of our expertise other than flying duties,” the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) wrote on Thursday.

The union represents more than 800 pilots who operate the narrow-body Airbus fleet of the airline. A flying allowance is an entitlement for pilots and cabin crew apart from basic salary and accounts for almost 70% of their salaries. The pilots said if their demands were not met, the management alone would be responsible for disruption of flights.