NEW DELHI, May 6, DHNS : The Air India management and the agitating pilots on Thursday began their second round of talks towards finding a solution to the nine-day-old strike but the discussions remained inconclusive till late in the evening. 

While details of the strike were not immediately available, informed sources said there was hope of the agitation ending soon. The second round of discussion which began around 11 am on Thursday was on even at 8.30 pm.

Civil aviation ministry joint secretary Prashant Sukul led the talks from the management side while the striking pilots were led by ICPA (Indian Commercial Pilots Association) president A S Bhinder.

It is, however, understood that the ministry has agreed that AI will re-hire nine pilots who were sacked during the strike for being office-bearers of ICPA which called for the strike.

The ministry has also agreed that Air India will recognise the ICPA which the management had de-recognised.

The strike began on the night of April 26 as the pilots, who originally belonged to Indian Airlines, wanted their demand of pay parity with the pilots of Air India agreed to.

As the strike continued on Thursday, the passengers continued to bear the brunt of the agitation even as the state-run AI hired 18 chartered flights (16 domestic and two international) from Kingfisher Airlines and Air Arabia to ease crisis. “Over 12,000 AI passengers have been transferred to other domestic and international carriers at the four metros,” said a statement by the airline.

Besides, Air India was also looking for inducting more seat capacity on wet lease basis, through request for proposal (RFP). Ever since the strike began, the airline is operating only about 10 per cent of its domestic service totaling around 320 flights. According to one estimate, the nine-day strike by the pilots has cost taxpayers Rs 146.5 crore.