Air India strike: 22 Executive Pilots report 'sick'

New Delhi: In further trouble for the strike-hit Air India, 22 of its around 120 Executive pilots have reported 'sick' at a time when the national carrier is struggling to maintain its international operations.

Air India Chairman-cum-Managing Director Rohit Nandan today said while 22 pilots have reported 'sick', three don't have passport and three others have applied for emergency leave.

He stated this after a delegation of Executive pilots met him to press for early resolution to the 44-day strike by 400 non-Executive pilots.

There are about 120 Executive pilots in Air India and they have been complaining of stress because of increased workload in the wake of the strike by their colleagues.

About 400 Air India pilots, owing allegiance to the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), are on strike since May 7. The airline management has terminated the services of 101 pilots, including 10 executive committee members.

The airline has been operating its 38 out of 45 flights on truncated international schedule with the help of 120 executive pilots.

The Executive pilots had last week written to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh saying that operating flight was now taking a toll on them as they were stressed and flight safety could be affected.

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