About 200 of them had reported sick before the strike and now need a fitness clearance for flying
About 200 of them had reported sick before the strike and now need a fitness clearance for flying
If you are still unable to take an Air India flight, blame it on the 'sick' pilots. The pilots' strike might have ended officially on Friday night, but Air India has not been able to resume its full services yet. The reason: Air India sources say, over 200 pilots had reported sick before going on strike. 
Back in action: The national carrier had suffered a loss of over Rs
150 crore due to the 10-day strike of its pilots. file pic
"If a pilot reports to duty after a sick leave, he/she has to undergo certain medical examinations before given a clearance to fly. So unless these pilots don't get their medical clearance, they can't fly. Hence, the delay in the resumption of the flights," said a senior Air India official.
On Saturday, only eight flights could operate from Delhi airport while on Sunday the number rose up to 25. "More than half of the flights that operate from Delhi are still grounded," said an Air India official. On any given day Air India operates around 60 flights from Delhi alone.
When contacted, Air India spokesperson admitted that one of the reasons behind the delay in restoring the flights was the medical examination of the pilots. "But we hope by Monday, normalcy would be restored," he added.
The national carrier had suffered a loss of over Rs150 crore due to the 10-day strike.
Officials say, another reason behind holding back the flights was that reservation had been put on hold.
"It will take a day or two for more bookings to come. Till then we cannot fly empty aircraft," said the official.
Not enough passengers
Nearly 50 per cent of Air India operations remained grounded on Sunday, as the crippled airline could not find enough passengers to restore its full operations two days after the pilots' strike ended. Officials in Air India said, that up to 6 pm, the airline operated only 50 percent of its flights.
The strike was called off after the government agreed to revoke all termination and suspension orders, withdraw derecognition of ICPA and assured the pilots that their demands for pay parity would be considered by the justice Dharmadhikari committee on a priority basis. The three-member panel, set up to go into all merger-related HR issues, has already met a cross-section of workers. The pilots were also assured of a probe into their allegations of corruption, besides immediate steps to enhance daily utilisation of aircraft and working hours of the cockpit crew.
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
