Disgruntled Air India pilots may resign in groups

Limping back to normalcy after 10-day strike jolt, the carrier likely to get another blow as over 100 pilots, upset over late payment of salary, looking for jobs in private airlines

An embattled and debt-ridden 'Maharaja', limping back to normalcy after the recent pilots' strike, may face another blow soon as disgruntled pilots of Air India are mulling to quit in groups.u00a0Upset over continual delay in payment of salary, no increase in flying hours and under utilisation of aircrafts, around 100 pilots of the national carrier have already started looking for jobs in private airlines. Around six pilots have already quit and a group of 45 recently met their prospective employer, a leading private carrier."We are not getting our salaries on time. Besidesu00a0 the company has done anything to increase the flying hours which will also help into the maximum utilisation of the aircrafts. About six pilots till the date have quit and have joined various domestic and international carriers," said an Air India pilot, who too is trying for a job at a leading private carrier.


Job Hopping? Air India pilots stage a demonstration at the Gateway
of India during the 10-day strike (April 27- May 6). Upset over delayed
payment of salary, six pilots have resigned so far. File picture

"Every month, we have to raise our voice for the timely payment of salary. We are sure in private airlines we will never face such a problem. At present, there are more than 350 vacancies for pilots in different private airlines, so the pilots have decided to quit Air India," added the pilot. Aviation industry sources confirmed that three leading private airlines urgently need to recruit 350 pilots. Four pilots from Delhi and two from Madras recently quit Air India. The total number of Air India pilots is more tu00a0han 2,000. Around 850 of them are from erstwhile Indian Airlines and their representing union is Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA). These pilots have decided to move to private airlines.u00a0 The same group of pilots recently went on a 10-day strike over several issues, including pay parity and timely payment of salary. Despite repeated attempts Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav could not be contacted for comment.

Deficit demon
>> In the recent strike (April 27-May 6) by a section of Air India pilots resulted in a net loss of more than Rs 150 crore, while the national carrier incurred a loss of Rs 100 crore during a pilots' strike in 2009.
>> The airline has suffered a cumulative loss of over Rs 13,300 crore since its merger with Indian Airlines in 2007