AIR INDIA today sought a court order against striking pilots as a stoppage over pay entered a second day, grounding dozens of flights and causing widespread disruption for passengers.
Television news channels said management at the ailing flag carrier were seeking to start contempt of court proceedings against the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) for breaking a pledge not to walk out.
The union represents pilots who flew for the domestic carrier Indian Airlines before a merger with Air India.
Some 660 of the ICPA’s 800 members began a lightning strike yesterday, claiming they were not paid as much as their Air India colleagues.
Air India said in a statement that it had cancelled 45 flights today on top of yesterday’s disruption.
Most scrapped flights were on domestic routes but flights from New Delhi to Kathmandu, Kabul and Dubai, plus two other international routes out of Mumbai, were also affected.
The company has sacked six senior ICPA members, suspended two others and withdrawn recognition of the union. It called the strike “illegal, unfortunate and most irresponsible” as talks were being held to resolve the pay dispute.
For its part, the ICPA says that Air India management provoked the strike, accusing them of mismanaging the company, which is struggling with debt and competition from private carriers.
