Delhi HC stays Air India pilot strike

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday termed Air India pilots’ strike as illegal and put a stay order on it.

Nearly 800 Air India pilots went to strike demanding pay parity on Wednesday, while the airline company moved to declare their strike illegal.

The pilots who are members of the Indian Commercial Pilot’s Association (ICPA) from the Indian Airlines, which merged with Air India earlier this year, demand a similar pay structure to AI pilots which includes a larger fixed salary component.

They say their salaries are getting hit by their largely variable pay structure, based on the number of flights, since the management had cut down their number by 30 to 40 percent.

In retaliation, the airline sealed its offices in Delhi and Mumbai. The management also sacked six pilots and suspended two.

Air India officials said they had derecognised the ICPA, declaring their strike illegal, but at the same time working to resolve the issue.

Around eight flights from Delhi and 11 flights from Mumbai were cancelled on Wednesday morning, media reports said, while others were delayed by as long as three hours.

Meanwhile the airline has decided to rope in about 150 substitute pilots who flew executive flights.