Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) Close to 150 flights were grounded Saturday as nearly half of Air India’s 1,600 pilots continued their strike for the fourth day despite facing a possible six-month jail for contempt of court and amid talks of a partial lockout.

Air India has reportedly cancelled 150 flights and re-scheduled 35 flights out of its daily 225 domestic flight network.

While 60 flights were cancelled in Mumbai, 14 were grounded in Kolkata and 12 in Kerala.

“We will operate just around 40 flights nationally, which includes 13 flights from Delhi, where on an average we have 52 flights,” a senior Air India official with the operational arm of the airline said.

According to the official, 100 domestic flights of its subsidiary arm of Alliance Air were still active.

“Only the operations of Air India’s main domestic arm are effected. Our subsidiary Alliance Air is still active with 100 flights on the national network,” said the official.

He further said the airline had since Thursday adopted a reduced operations plan, where fewer flights by wide-bodied aircraft would be operated.

“Currently, our operations are going on smoothly. As we have stopped ticket bookings, passenger loads will also come down and we will be able to tide over this period,” the official said.

Air India Friday curtailed its regular operations by 55 percent from its normal daily schedule of 225.

The official rubbished the talks about a possible lock out of Air India, and termed it as baseless rumours floated by the unions.

“These are just rumours being floated about a lock out and nothing more. How can the national carrier be locked out. We have enough executive pilots to operate our flights,” the official said.

The official alleged that some pilots in the striking unions may be behind these rumours.

“It may be just to sensationalise their efforts in pressurising the management that these rumours are being floated by some striking pilots.”

According to the official, the possibility of the imposition of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) or any other move may be some time away as the matter is subjudice.

“There is no basis in this lock-out talk. The management has said nothing, the government is with us and the matter is in court. We have even stopped booking, so at the end, we are very comfortable,” the official said.

Meanwhile, the strike has caused a net loss of Rs.26 crore to the airline, already facing one of its worst financial crises with losses mounting to nearly $3 billion since 2007 when Indian Airlines was merged with Air India under a new entity - National Aviation Company of India Limited.

“Nobody can dictate terms to the government, especially a few pilots. They are one of the highest paid people in this country,” said Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, who has totally backed the airline management after briefing the federal cabinet.

According to another airline official, the management is also considering an extension in the suspension of further bookings beyond the originally planned Sunday.

“There are various options being considered. But certainly the pilots will not dictate terms.”

The Delhi High Court Friday initiated contempt proceedings against the members of the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the union behind the strike and whose members were on the payroll of erstwhile Indian Airlines.

Justice Gita Mittal initiated sou moto criminal contempt of court proceedings against the union after its members refused to return to work despite her earlier order, restraining them from going ahead with the strike or holding further demonstrations.

Thousands of stranded passengers across the country were more upset by the steep 50-75 percent hike in fares charged by private airlines.

In the Delhi-Mumbai sector, for example, some passengers said the base fare of Rs.2,400-Rs.3,000 for last-minute bookings had been jacked up to as much as Rs.7,500 by some carriers, resulting in a one-way cost of Rs.11,500, including various levies.

“Some carriers are charging even more,” said Pallavi Garg, a teacher, who was looking at last-minute offers on some travel sites to go to Mumbai from the capital. The minimum fare, she found, was Rs.6,198 and the maximum touched Rs.27,601 in Kingfisher and Jet.