It may be curtains for many 'sick' Air India pilots

New Delhi: The striking Air India pilots seem to have exhausted all options. Not only will they be in deep trouble if they continue to call in sick, some have already been issued a show cause notice by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) before their licences are cancelled next week. In fact, the tough stand taken by Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has made sure that the pilots are not even left with a face-saver this time around.

As per rules, if a pilot calls in sick 14 days in a row, he has to mandatorily present himself before a full Air Force medical board.

Which means it could be months before he gets a fitness certificate and can return to flying. Also, the DGCA could well cancel the flying licences of some pilots as early as next week.

Perhaps realising that time is running out, some pilot representatives went to meet Singh at his residence this afternoon but were turned away, with the minister clearly asking them to join work before any talks were initiated. Till date, over 70 pilots affiliated to the derecognised Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG) have been suspended and the government is preparing the grounds to sack at least half a dozen among them who are office-bearers of the IPG.

Earlier this week, pilot representatives had come close to reaching a compromise with the Air India management and senior officials in the ministry of civil aviation but talks got stalled on the issue of pay, top ministry sources told Firstpost. The pilots, who belong to the erstwhile Air India before the merger, wanted to prevent their counterparts in erstwhile Indian Airlines from getting seniority in the cockpit. Which means their (AI pilots’) career progression should be fast tracked so that they become commanders in about eight years against 12 years now. Pilots of the erstwhile IA become commanders in about six years due to different service rules.

A senior ministry official said that the government was willing to consider this plan but talks stalled when pilots demanded that they be paid the wages of commanders, too. “We agreed to give them notional command in eight years but with AI running losses, how can they be paid the salary of a commander? They walked out of a meeting with the airline CMD and then with us”.

So now, with time running out and Air India’s international operations in a shambles, neither the management nor the pilots are willing to blink first.

Meanwhile, the executive pilots of the airline have also threatened “appropriate action” unless the airline management begins talks with striking pilots. The ministry official quoted earlier said there are about 130-150 such senior pilots but they are not allowed to form a union so their notice too is illegal.

This official explained that the pilots may get back to work now, having been cornered, but there is no dearth of issues if they decide to strike again. He did not elaborate but airline sources said another contentious issue which could raise the hackles of pilots is computerisation of crew scheduling.

“This will be done shortly. This means the hold pilots’ unions have over who operates what flight, specially for international destinations, will vanish. Pilots are certainly not going to like that”.

Meanwhile, the minister’s reported view that the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines has failed may not amount to much. Ministry officials said it was practically impossible to reverse the merger now.

Said one official: “Almost 70 percent of the merger is done: there is a single call sign, IT platforms have been integrated ….the only place where the merger is yet to be done is the area of human resources. This will be done when the Dharmadhikari Committee report is implemented”.

This report suggests that the airline abolish all performance-linked incentives (PLIs) and instead migrate every employee - except pilots, cabin crew and engineers - to service conditions laid down by the Department of Public Enterprises. Though the airline is hoping to save Rs 200 crore through this, it remains to be seen whether employees absorb the pay shocks.

Even pilots will be affected by this, since they will no longer be able to claim hefty flight allowances. If they agree to be reasonable, perhaps the Air India management will even consider their demands of reinstatement of sacked colleagues. Otherwise, a bleak week is before them.