Air India (AI) pilots owing allegiance to the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) on Wednesday met Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi and assured him of their full cooperation for the smooth operation of the airline.
After the meeting, IPG representatives said the Minister assured the delegation that “the issues raised by them will be viewed in a fair and unbiased manner.”
The IPG members, numbering about 200, belong to the erstwhile Air India before the merger with the erstwhile Indian Airlines (IA).
They have been protesting against alleged discrimination in career progression by the AI management vis -a-vis their counterparts from the IA, whose pilots have the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA). While most erstwhile Air India pilots had flown wide-body aircraft on international routes, the ICPA members had mostly operated on domestic sectors or regional routes on narrow-body aircraft.
After a protest by the IPG members and their threat to quit, the AI management decided to defer a training programme for pilots to fly Boeing 787 Dreamliners by a month and recalled the first batch of pilots that had left for Singapore and Gatwick in the U.K. for training.
The first Dreamliner is likely to be inducted in the AI fleet by late December or early January 2012. The IPG's contention was, however, challenged by the ICPA, which termed it “unreasonable” and contrary to the agreement reached between the two unions and the management in early October. The ICPA represents about 1,400 pilots.
The IPG has said that until a detailed training plan was drawn up, the AI management should maintain status quo — the pilots of the IA fly the airplanes ordered by the erstwhile airline, and the pilots of the erstwhile Air India fly the aircraft ordered by it.
However, the ICPA has written to AI CMD Rohit Nandan, expressing disappointment over the IPG decision to oppose the ICPA pilots flying the B 787 Dreamliners after an understanding was signed among the ICPA, the IPG and the management on October 8.
A Boeing 787 simulator would be installed at the AI facility in Mumbai by January-end, after which the airline would provide in-house training for pilots.
