New Delhi:
The Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India chairman Arvind Jadhav on Tuesday briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the ongoing strike by the executive pilots, said PMO sources.
Meanwhile, 58 executive aircraft maintenance engineers have declaredthat they will join the ongoing strike by the executive pilots of AirIndia.
The Air India website is clearly displaying that it is not accepting any bookings till October 15. Bookings are being accepted from the 16th.
Instead of mentioning that the flights have been suspended, the website merely states "seats not available". There has been no official note from Air India declaring that it is not accepting bookings.
Earlier, the airline's Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav, speaking to NDTV, rejected reports of a possible lockout and said that the management was assessing the resources it has at hand and the number of flights it can operate.
However, Jadhav admitted in his interview to NDTV that 50 per cent of Air India's flights have been affected.
That's perhaps the reason why Air India does not seem to be accepting any bookings till the October 15.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Ministry has intervened ahead of its meeting on Tuesday on the crisis. It has said that government support is coming but the pilots must end their strike.
"The government support is coming but will be linked to proper turnaround plan including cost cutting and revenue enhancement. We will advise the management to enter into a comprehensive dialogue with all employees," said the Civil Aviation Ministry in a statement.
"This strike must end immediately in the interest of the public. This will also stand the airline in good stead for future government support," it adds.
No. of flights cancelled:
37 domestic flights cancelled across the country out of 177 total domestic flights
9 international flights cancelled out of 21 total international flights
12 domestic , 5 international out of Delhi
5 domestic, 3 international out of Mumbai
6 domestic out of Kolkata
5 domestic out of Chennai
Following flights from Delhi have been cancelled:
IC 869 to Raipur-Nagpur
IC 803 to Bangalore
IC 401 to Kolkata
IC 411 to Lucknow
IC 880 to Bagdogra-Guwahati
IC 506 to Bangalore
IC 429 to Chennai
IC 809 to Ranchi
IC 407 to Patna
IC 825 to Srinagar
Delhi to New York
Delhi to London
Delhi to Chicago
Following flights from Mumbai have been cancelled:
IC675 to Kolkata
IC133 to Indore-Bhopal
IC865 & IC163 to Goa combined, IC928 to Hyderabad
IC657 to Calicut
IC 671 comb with IC 972 Chennai.
AI 141 to New York cancelled and passengers transferred to AI 191 to Newark
Mumbai to London
Mumbai to Singapore
Flights from Kolkata to the following destinations have been cancelled:
To Port Blair
To Delhi
To Jaipur
To Agartala
To Hyderabad
To Guwahati
International flights affected:Delhi to New York
Mumbai to New York
Delhi to London
Mumbai to London
Delhi to Chicago
Mumbai to Singapore
Amritsar to London-Toronto
Ahmedabad to Frankfurt
More details are awaited. Passengers can call toll-free number
1800-1801-707 for more information.