New Delhi: The crisis in Air India worsened on Sunday with its executive pilots coming out in support of striking pilots, asking the management to revoke sack orders and hold immediate negotiations to end the six-day impasse, as at least 20 international flights were cancelled. The striking pilots while stating that they were ready for talks showed no signs of returning to work, leaving hundreds of passengers fretting with holiday...
07:06 PM, May 13, 2012
New Delhi: Privatisation could be the only way to save Air India, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has said. Speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate, he hinted at looking at that option once the airline becomes viable. "We have to put Air India on the right track, make it viable and then if you look around you will note that the days of national carriers are gone. Any country...
07:49 AM, May 13, 2012
New Delhi: It's day six of the stand-off between the pilots and the management of Air India. 10 flights from Delhi and 4 from Mumbai were cancelled on Sunday. The DGCA on Saturday night issued notices to 11 office bearers of Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) after the airline management sought cancellation of their flying licences. The 11 pilots have been given a week's time to file their reply, sources in...
07:39 AM, May 13, 2012
New Delhi: Harassed passengers bear the brunt as Air India pilots refuse to budge from their stand. One of the agitating pilots said, "I want to go to Delhi and meet the minister, without the management. We have been ordered not to enter the premises. Either all of us go to work or we do not go. Dismissal letters have to be taken back." Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said, "First...
09:41 PM, May 12, 2012
New Delhi: There seem to be no signs of an end to the deadlock between the striking Air India pilots, the management and the government as all of them continued to stick to their stands. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh asked the striking pilots to first apologise to the passengers if they wished to hold talks with the government. "I appeal to the pilots to give first priority to the...
02:32 PM, May 12, 2012
New Delhi: There seems to be no end in sight to the Air India crisis. The pilots' strike entered the fifth day on Saturday and passengers continued to suffer as 15 international flights were cancelled. On Friday, Air India sacked 25 more pilots taking the total number of sacked pilots to 71 in four days, even as the pilots reached out for talks. Air India also wrote to the Directorate...
07:34 AM, May 12, 2012
New Delhi: There seems to no end to the turbulence in national carrier Air India. The airline has sacked 24 more pilots, taking the total number of axed pilots to 70. The national carrier has also written to the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to cancel flying licences of the sacked pilots. Meanwhile, the airline has framed a contingency plan for international flights, starting Monday at 6...
09:24 PM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: The government moved to control airfares on Friday even as the pilots strike in Air India and Kingfisher led to several flights being cancelled. The government said that it won't slap the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) on the pilots for now after Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday over the crisis. There seems to be some hope amidst the turbulence for...
03:40 PM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday met Aviation Minister Ajit Singh over the ongoing strike by the Air India pilots that has crippled the national carrier. Singh reportedly told the minister that steps must be taken to ensure that airfares did not rise despite the strike. Nearly 50 pilots called in sick earlier this week demanding parity in the training programme of pilots between the Air India and...
01:23 PM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the Air India crisis. After the meeting, Ajit Singh said that the government was not being inflexible and was open to talks. "The government is not being inflexible or adamant," Ajit Singh said. The Aviation Minister also said that the government had no plans of imposing the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against the...
12:43 PM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain Air India's contempt petition against the Indian Pilots Guild and asked Air India to sit with pilots and sort out the differences. A bench headed by Justice T S Thakur said that they (pilots) have done nothing which amounts to contempt of court and suggested the airlines to speak with them to sort out the differences. "They have done nothing...
12:19 PM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: Kingfisher Airlines, that is dealing with a strike by over 70 pilots presently, had some positive news on Friday. Chairman Vijay Mallya wrote to his employees assuring them that their long-overdue salaries would be disbursed starting Friday. Nearly 72 pilots based in north India went on a mass sick leave on Thursday protesting non-payment of salaries since December, and were even trying to convince their counterparts in Mumbai...
11:19 AM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Friday said that he hoped that the Air India pilots who have called in sick get well soon. "The pilots have reported sick. So, I hope they get well soon," Ajit Singh said. In a warning of the sorts, he also said that he hoped that Air India crisis doesn't deepen. "I hope things do not go from bad to worse and...
09:26 AM, May 11, 2012
New Delhi: Thousands of passengers across the country are left stranded as Air India and Kingfisher Airlines are forced to cancel flights following a strike by pilots. National carrier Air India on Thursday stopped bookings on international sectors and cancelled as many as 21 domestic flights. The Air India management also sacked nine more pilots, taking the total number of axed pilots to 45. The management of the national carrier...
09:44 PM, May 10, 2012
New Delhi: State-owned Air India risks losing a $5.8 billion government bailout, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said on Thursday, as industrial action by pilots disrupted flights for a fourth day. The national airline, which has been surviving on taxpayers' money, is scheduled to get $1.3 billion in fresh equity from the government in the current fiscal year but this is linked to its performance. "Pilots need to understand that...
09:30 PM, May 10, 2012
New Delhi: Union Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Thursday denied that he had ruled out talks with the pilots, asserting that he never said he would not talk to the pilots. Blaming it on the pilots, the minister said, "I never said I will not talk to them. If they are not willing to follow court order, how will they talk to me?" He further said that the pilots...
04:28 PM, May 10, 2012
Mumbai: Under pressure from various quarters, the derecognised Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) on Thursday appealed to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to open channels of negotiation and accused the Air India management of backtracking on its commitments. "The ministry has failed to respond to the offer for talks. IPG is willing to meet with officials of management/ministry at any place at any time in order to resolve the impasse," the...
11:01 AM, May 10, 2012
New Delhi: The turbulence in Air India escalated on Thursday morning. The Air India passengers continued to bear the brunt of the ongoing stand-off between the airline management and pilots for the third consecutive day as more than 20 flights from Delhi and Mumbai were cancelled. Air India has also stopped booking on some sectors. The airline is not taking any bookings bookings for Delhi-New York, Chicago, Toronto and New...
09:52 AM, May 10, 2012
New Delhi: Air India is not the only cash-strapped carrier battling a mutiny by pilots. A section of Kingfisher pilots have threatened to go on strike from Thursday over the non-payment of salaries since December. Kingfisher Airlines Chairman Vijay Mallya had on Monday promised to pay his employees their dues from Wednesday onwards. Reports say Mallya had met Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh but denied seeking a bailout. ...
08:24 AM, May 10, 2012
New Delhi: Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has expressed regret over the Air India-Indian Airlines merger, saying the division was a mistake. Speaking to CNN-IBN, Ajit Singh said that in retrospect that decision did cause problems. "Their cultures were entirely different. Air India's way of doing things, Indian Airlines way of doing things, their pay scales, their promotion policies and their areas of operation were also entirely different. So that...
07:37 AM, May 10, 2012
