Air India pilots' strike: On Day 8, carrier invokes contingency plans
Vinod Dasari, managing director, Ashok Leyland, told NDTV Profit that the company is planning to make about 36,000 vehicles in FY13-14. “We are happy about the exports market that we have developed. Southern markets are seeing revival,” he added.
On Day 8 of the Air India pilots' strike, the airline moved to put contingency schedule in place, even as it said domestic operations were normal. The decison comes after no signs of a compromise between the pilots on strike and the management of the national carrier.
The schedule is valid from May 16 to May 20, 2012.
As part of the contingency schedule, Air India will operate daily return services on the Delhi-Paris-New York, Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago and Delhi-London sectors. It will also operate two daily flights between Delhi and Kathmandu, four flights a week between Mumbai and Jeddah, and twice-a-week operations on Mumbai-Hyderabad-Jeddah, Kochi-Kozhikode-Jeddah, Mumbai-Riyadh, Riyadh-Kochi, Delhi-Tokyo and Delhi-Riyadh.
AIr India will also continue to operate one daily return flight on the Mumbai-Singapore, Delhi-Singapore, Chennai-Singapore, Mumbai-Bangkok, Delhi-Bangkok, Mumbai-Dubai-Mumbai-Goa, Delhi-Dubai, Chennai-Dubai, Kozhikode-Dubai, Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad-Dubai, Kochi-Sharjah, Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah, Kozhikode-Sharjah, Mumbai-Abu Dhabi, Delhi-Bahrain-Abu Dhabi, Delhi-Dammam, Chennai-Muscat, Delhi-Muscat, Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Muscat, Bengaluru-Male and Bengaluru-Thiruvananthapuram-Male sectors.
The management also has been handed over medical reports of the pilots, who started the agitation by calling in sick. In New Delhi, a team of doctors were sent to all the pilots' homes to check on the veracity of their claims of being sick. The reports; a copy of which is with NDTV, show how, many pilots' homes were locked; many others weren't even at their homes. The report also mentions how many pilots told the medical team about 'toothaches' and 'cavities in the teeth' as reasons for their absence.
However, the civil aviation minister said he is not surprised at the report. Speaking to reporters, he said everybody knows what the reality is. "It was known on Day 1 itself what the real issue is. Their union leader was openly saying 'tomorrow, more pilots will fall sick', so you know it was pre planned," he said.
At airports across the country, fewer people are now turning up even as Air India has extended the bar on bookings for its West-bound flights till Thursday. Reports suggest that it is mulling over the option of shutting down global operations till a resolution is found to the pilots' strike. Yesterday, 14 international flights were cancelled.
The airline, which had stopped taking bookings for flights to North America and Europe till Tuesday, extended the period till May 17, airline officials said.
Complete closure of international operations was not being ruled out if the strike continued, they said, adding that these services were responsible for about 48 per cent of the operational losses of the ailing national carrier. It is estimated that the national carrier has already suffered losses worth over Rs. 150 crore in the last eight days.
Dubbing their stir as "meaningless" after a court order, Government has refused to hold talks with the agitating pilots till they resumed work.
The Delhi High Court had last week called the stir by a section of pilots as illegal.
The airline has already sacked 71 pilots, de-recognised their union - Indian Pilots' Guild, and sealed their offices.