Air India roadmap includes hiring new pilots, more flights: Ajit Singh

Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Wednesday said that Air India will hire more pilots to make up for the current shortage due to a 30-day old strike by some pilots flying international routes.

“We're making sure we have enough resources - pilots and engineers. If they want to come back, they are welcome. But no pre-conditions,” he said at a press conference on the issues facing national carrier Air India. He added that the terminated pilots will have to re-apply if they want to come back to Air India.

The strike has affected Air India's overseas flights significantly. On Wednesday, Singh said international passenger trafic was about 11,000 a day, about 2,000-3,000 lower than normal. Meanwhile the airline has made plans not only to maintain international flights but to increase them, he added. 

He also said that with the striking pilots rejecting the Dharmadhikari report, it seems that they have decided not to come back. “If they reject that, there is no point in their coming back,” he said.

The Dharmadhikari Committee, which submitted its report on January 31, has, among other things, made recommendations on crucial issues like principles of integration across various cadres, seniority and principles of pay rationalisation of the two erstwhile state-run airlines, issues that have been at the centre of the strike called by the Air India pilots. 

The airline has been hit by a prolonged strike by its international-route pilots, now in its 30th day. The pilots are protesting the management's decision to let erstwhile Indian Airlines’ pilots to train on advanced Boeing 787 aircraft, and are seeking new pay and career progression norms as well as parity with pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

Singh said the carrier will start flying the Boeing 787 aircraft shortly. "The first long haul flight will be Mumbai-London in August," he said at the Wednesday press conference. 

Air India also filed a contempt petition against the striking pilots in the Delhi High Court, with the government again terming their protest illegal and blaming the agitators for not coming to the negotiating table. Earlier, the court had held the strike illegal. On May 17, the Delhi High Court asked the striking Air India pilots to call off their agitation immediately or face contempt action. The two-judge bench also dismissed a plea by them challenging an earlier order by a single judge holding the strike illegal.

The Air India management has also derecognized the union, and a Mumbai High Court bench has dismissed a petition challenging that decision. 

On Wednesday, Singh maintained that the pilots' strike was out of line, saying that the union has already been derecognised. "The strike has been declared illegal by the High Court, they haven't even followed union rules of giving notice of strike.  I have said in Parliament their will be no victimisation, but they are not willing," he pointed out. 

The IPG, comprising mostly pilots that fly international routes, is protesting management's decision to let erstwhile Indian Airlines’ pilots to train on advanced Boeing 787 aircraft. It has asked that pilots from the erstwhile domestic carrier not be allowed to train on the wide-bodied aircraft until a comprehensive career progression policy was put in place.

At Wednesday's press conference, Singh said the ministry was consulting with allies in the United Progressive Alliance government -- of which his party Rashtriya Lok Dal is a constituent -- on bringing in foreign direct investment in civil aviation. 

He also called for aviation turbine fuel to be included in the notified goods category, saying that there was currently no transparency in the pricing determination for ATF. 

"ATF is 40-50 per cent of operation cost... airlines are particularly sensitive to ATF cost, it affects their viability," he said , pointing out that the average cost of ATF in Indian aiports is higher than in other hubs.  He said that an expert panel has said that a high taxation regime is responsible for the high operational costs, and that ad valorem value-added tax on ATF can go up to as high as 30 per cent. 

"I have written to the Finance Ministry on reconsidering service tax and taxation on ATF, I'm trying to meet the Oil Minister this week," he said.