Information Madness

Air India has cancelled ten international flights with immediate effect as twenty three of its pilots have reported sick and not reported on duty. This has led to the cancellations beginning with Air India Express flights. Air India could be heading to face more trouble with about a hundred pilots giving a warning that they will quit.

The Air India pilots are part of the Indian Pilots’ Guild and these pilots are confronting Air India for adopting discriminatory attitude against them. They feel that their career progress has been stalled.

The threat by the pilots could hit Air India’s international operations badly. Already, ten flights of its Air India Express, its low budget division, have been cancelled. Right now, the sectors that are badly hit are the Kolkata-Dhaka and Chennai-Singapore sectors.

This threat by the pilots has come few days ahead of the launch of a training program for them to fly the `Dreamliner’ Boeing 787 that had its inaugural flight few days back from Tokyo to Hong Kong. Air India was slated to get its first Dreamliner by December.

Air India feels hopeful of sorting out their issues even though these hundred pilots are seeking `No Objection Certificate’ from the carrier so that they should be relieved from their services to seek employment elsewhere.

The Indian Pilots’ Guild has commented that a firm decision will be taken concerning the strike by a ballot vote during this week. The Guild pilots are claiming that their peers at the Indian Airlines who belong to the Indian Commercial Pilots Association are being given the preference to fly the Dreamliner.