Strike-hit Jet to hire more expat pilots
Mumbai/New Delhi
Sept. 9: Over 200 Jet Airways flights were cancelled on Wednesday as the strike by pilots looked set to enter its third day on Thursday. The pilots’ agitation intensified with about 432 pilots opting to go on mass sick leave even as the Bombay high court issued a contempt notice to the pilots on Wednesday for not withdrawing their strike.
More pilots went on sick leave on Wednesday as compared to the 363 on Tuesday, indicating the stir was gaining more support among the pilots. Jet Airways will be cancelling several domestic and international flights on Thursday as well in view of the continuation of the strike. Sources said a desperate Jet Airways was also examining the possibility of hiring more foreign pilots to get its aircraft back in the skies. Jet Airways is believed to have incurred losses worth several crores in the last two days alone.
The stalemate between the Jet Airways management and the pilots continued throughout Wednesday with no breakthrough reported despite the fact that the pilot union representatives landed in New Delhi on Wednesday morning itself. However, it appeared that talks between the management and pilots had failed by late Wednesday evening. Jet Airways had to cancel about 174 domestic and 32 international flights on Wednesday.
Addressing reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday, Capt. Hameed Ali, chief operating officer (COO) of Jet Airways, said: “On Wednesday 432 pilots out of 700 reported sick and the situation has become fluid. For any particular flight we are not able to assess whether the pilot will be available or he will be reporting sick. So we are reviewing contingency plans on an hourly basis.”
Jet Airways banked heavily on national carrier Air India and other private airlines to accommodate passengers on their flights on Wednesday. Air India, which reiterated that it “is the most dependable airline”, also announced it had operated a special flight on the Chennai-Bengaluru-Colombo route for the Indian cricket team after the Jet Airways flight from Chennai to Colombo, on which the cricketers were apparently booked, was cancelled.
The cricketers boarded the flight from Chennai while a few others boarded from Bengaluru. The flight also carried other passengers. Several international Jet Airways flights to West Asia and Southeast Asia were also cancelled. The airline, however, ann-ounced that its “operations to Europe, UK and North America remain as per normal schedule”.
Civil aviation ministry sources told this newspaper that the government’s only concern was passenger welfare. “Beyond that, it’s a dispute between the management of a private airline and its pilots. We have no role to play in that resolution,” said a ministry source.
The ministry sources expressed relief that most passengers had been accommodated by other airlines. Sources said that this had boosted load factors in other airlines by about 10 per cent. Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal met civil aviation minister Praful Patel on Wednesday and is believed to have sought his intervention.
Source:: Deccan Chronicle
