Thaindian News

New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS) Air India Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that the process has started of implementing the recommendations of a panel to ensure career progression and wage rationalisation of pilots of Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

The Justice Dharmadhikari Committee was constituted to look into the aspects arising out of the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines in 2007.

Advocate Lalit Bhasin, appearing for Air India, informed a division bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw that recommendations of Justice Dharmadhikari were being implemented.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by Air India challenging a single judge’s order that stayed further training of its pilots belonging to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), a union of aviators from Air India, till the implementation of Justice Dharmadhikari panel recommendations.

Hearing the plea, the bench disposed of the plea asking both the parties (Air India and the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA), a union of the pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, to file their written submissions within two weeks before Justice Suresh Kait.

Bhasin told the court that the Air India management had taken a policy decision to train ICPA and IPG pilots on a 1:1 ratio for flying advanced aircraft.

“One each from ICPA and the IPG can be trained at a time for flying Boeing 747 and 787 aircraft. However, the pilots of ICPA cannot be trained to fly the Boeing 777 as the training process for this category is over,” Bhasin said.

The ICPA, representing pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, had moved the high court against Air India and the IPG.

It sought a stay of pilot training on advanced aircraft like the Boeing 777 on the ground that its members were not being treated on par with the IPG members.