New Delhi:
A section of Air India pilots, who had struck work over non-payment of dues, have called of their stir, thus averting yet another stand-off with the management of the national carrier.
Authorities at the cash-strapped airline have promised to clear all outstanding dues in a phased manner by March to 40 pilots who had called in sick yesterday morning in protest against non-payment of their pending salary arrears.
"Things have been sorted out. The management has assured us that they would pay a part of due allowances by 20th of this month, a part of rest by 20th February and clear our dues by March," A S Bhinder, President of Indian Commercial Pilot's Association, an association of erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots, told PTI.
The pilots would resume their duties, he added.
A total of 52 flights, 44 from Delhi and eight from Mumbai, were cancelled causing inconvenience to hundreds of passengers.
Top ICPA leaders - President Bhinder and General Secretary Rishabh Kapur - had two rounds of discussion with Air India chief Rohit Nandan and top officials till late on Saturday night.
They pointed out that the payment of productivity-linked incentive (PLI) and flying allowances have been pending since last August, sources said.
The flying allowances constitute 80 per cent of the pay package. The airline management on Saturday paid the pilots their due salary of November 2011.
While most of the long-haul international flights to destinations like London, New York, Toronto, Tokyo and Chicago operated as scheduled, flights to or from Kabul, Kathmandu, Muscat and Abu Dhabi remained cancelled.
Confusion prevailed at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport here with a large number of passengers queuing up at Air India counters to find out the status of their flights as several domestic flights were delayed and some others combined.
Sympathising with the pilots, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh had said, "The employees have a problem, they have not been paid for one-two months. Allowances have not been paid for quite a few months now. We understand their problem but Air India's finances are in a bad condition. Their accounts were frozen yesterday."
Mr Singh also said that he would meet Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee next week over the Air India issue.
"By the end of next week, maybe we will be able to pay...I won't say all the allowances and salaries will be paid but most of it should be paid," he said, adding Air India had a long term financial problem.
Most of the flights cancelled were operated by Airbus A-320s, whereas operations by turbo-prop ATRs, Canadian Regional Jets and the long-haul Boeings continued as usual, airline sources said.
The agitating pilots reported for duty but said they were under stress due to the financial problems they were facing and therefore were unable to undertake flight duties, airline sources said.
The ICPA, which has not given a call for the agitation, appealed to the agitators to return to work.
Air India has been battling a severe financial crisis losing over a 100 crores last year, after 600 pilots went on an indefinite strike protesting non-payment of salaries.
In fact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had, in the Winter Session of Parliament, made an assurance that all pending dues of the pilots would be cleared.
(With PTI inputs)