Mumbai, Nov 2 (IANS): Efforts are on to stave off mass resignations and a strike by a section of Air India pilots on training to fly the soon-to-be inducted Boeing 787 Dreamliner, an official said Wednesday.
"We will hold another round of discussions with the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) today (Wednesday). All efforts and good offices are being used to stave off this showdown as it is not good for the pilots and the company," an Air India official told IANS.
Talks have been held here between Air India Express, the low cost international subsidiary of the flag carrier, and the IPG's representatives at the company's headquarters, which is also known as the Air India building, according to the official.
"Air India Express's chief operating officer (COO) Chandra Kumar is in talks with IPG representatives," the official said.
The developments came after 100 pilots, who are members of the IPG that represents 300 pre-merger pilots of Air India, threatened to resign over alleged discrimination by the airline's management on the training to fly the Dreamliner.
On Tuesday, similar talks between Air India's industrial relations executive director Vineeta Bhandari and the IPG failed to find an impasse to the issue.
The trouble started when 64 pilots, 32 from the IPG and 32 from the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the union of former Indian Airlines pilots, were selected to undergo Boeing 787 training in the US which starts in a few days.
"We, the loyal employees of Air India, working for past several years feel cheated by the management's unfair and discriminatory decisions, leading to a complete stall of our career progression," said a letter sent Oct 29 to Air India's chairman and managing director Rohit Nandan.
The letter sought a no-objection certificate (NOC) to enable those pilots who have not been selected to undergo training for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner to resign. The new jetliners are to be inducted in the fleet from December.
The IPG's letter claims a collusion between the ICPA which represents 1,400 pilots and the management in bringing about an artificial pilot shortage by transferring some of the IPG pilots to Air India Express.
The copies of the letter were also sent to Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi and the regional labour commissioner, Mumbai.
Meanwhile, hearing a petition filed by the IPG on the issue, the Bombay High Court Wednesday adjourned the matter after the Air India counsel said the training programme for pilots would be deferred for a month.
On the other hand, the ICPA has questioned IPG's "bias" against its own colleagues while they had no objection to foreign pilots flying their aircraft.
"How come only when the ICPA pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines are allowed to fly, their (IPG pilots) careers are hampered," an ICPA official asked.
The ICPA has also strongly condemned IPG's heavy-handed approach of continuously demanding a monopoly of flying all types of aircraft.
"In the past, they (IPG pilots) wanted to fly Boeing 737, 777, 747, and Airbus A310 and now they want Boeing 787 Dreamliner for themselves. This is absurd," an ICPA official said.