Thaindian News

Mumbai, Nov 2 (IANS) The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) of the erstwhile Indian Airlines has opposed the strike threat called by its rival pilot body — the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) — over flying the soon to be inducted Boeing 787 Dreamliner, an official said here Wednesday.

The official of the 1,400-strong ICPA questioned the move by the 300-strong IPG to go on strike if the Air India management permits ICPA pilots to fly the Dreamliner.

The ICPA has questioned IPG’s “bias” against its own colleagues while they had no objection to foreign pilots flying their aircraft.

“How come only when the ICPA pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines are allowed to fly, their (IPG pilots) careers are hampered,” an ICPA official questioned.

The ICPA has also strongly condemned IPG’s heavy-handed approach of continuously demanding a monopoly of flying all types of aircraft.

“In the past, they (IPG pilots) wanted to fly Boeing 737, 777, 747, and Airbus A310 and now they want Boeing 787 Dreamliner for themselves. This is absurd,” an ICPA official said.

Besides, the disparity in salaries between the memebrs of the two unions is also a cause of rift, he said.

He claimed that while some IPG pilots get paid for 80 hours work even while sitting at home, the ICPA pilots are made to work round-the-clock and get half the salaries despite flying to similar destinations like Singapore, Bangkok and London, as also to the Middle East.

The ICPA urged the AI management to adhere to its understanding with the ICPA and IPG for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in which it had (AI) agreed to equally divide the aircraft between the pilots of the two unions.

Hearing a petition filed by the IPG on the issue, the Bombay High Court Tuesday, adjourned the matter after the Air India counsel said that that the training programme for pilots would be deferred for a month.

Meanwhile, negotiations are still on between the management and the IPG pilots.