Air India wants pilots to fly more

Even as the tumult within the national carrier continues, management on Friday issued a circular declaring an increase in flight duty hours of crew of erstwhile Indian Airlines, signalling that the situation may escalate

In a development which could further give impetus to the ongoing deadlock between Air India management and employees of erstwhile Indian Airlines staff, the national carrier on Friday evening issued a circular in which two agreements done some years back have been declared null and void.

Sources say as a result, besides agitating pilots, the cabin crew members which are around 2000 in number could also go on strike. The circular states, their rostering will be done as per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) rules and not as per the agreed terms and conditions in previous agreements between the airline management and pilots and crew members.

Duty calls
"Reference is drawn to the subject in which regard it is reiterated that all Pilots and Cabin Crew of the Air India Narrow Body (Airbus fleet) will be rostered for flight duties as per AIC 28 of 1992 and CAR Section 7, Series 'J', Part I, respectively," reads the circular issued on Friday evening sent to all general managers and rostering officers of the airline.

This communication which came into force with immediate effect was issued by Captain AS Soman, Executive Director, Operations and Customer Service. The circular by the management has surprised many as the pilots' strike has already entered its sixth day, and speculations are rife that the situation is heading towards lockdown.

Wrong timing?
"How can such a directive be issued, nullifying the previous bilateral agreements unilaterally? We have sent a strong worded reply to management. We are going to take it up with Chief Labour Commissioner as it is violation of labour laws," said a senior Cabin Crew Association member who wished not to identity due to gag order by the Air India management.

"There is no point in issuing such an order when the pilots are not working. We are not going to fly unless our demands are met," said Rishabh Kapoor, ICPA, General Secretary.u00a0 As per the new order Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) Section 7, Series 'J', Part I,", means the Bilateral Agreements of 1995 & 2008 signed between the unions and Indian Airlines management have been dissolved unilaterally.

Bilateral Agreements 1995/2008 state that crew can perform Flight Duty of 100 hrs in period of 30 days whereas CAR pegs the figure at 125hrs. Besides for daily flight duty hours the bilateral agreements say crew can perform Flight Duty of Maximum 8hrs in a day to the International Destinations like Middle East and South East Asia, whereas the figure is 11hrs according to CAR.

Money matters
"Why erstwhile Indian Airlines employees have to work on the old wages in Air India and as per the new guidelines where the duty time, work load and employees' contribution have increased by 100 percent? Indian Airlines employees are still getting lesser wages than their Air India counterparts, said, an Indian Airlines official.
BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who himself is a pilot, said: "It's a ploy to shut down the company by blaming the pilots. There is a design behind it. Government has messed it up. Now, they are insinuating the pilots for its closure. They have found a new alibi," When contacted, the Air India spokesperson said, "Everything has been done as per the laid down rules and DGCA guidelines. It is beingu00a0u00a0 misinterpreted."u00a0

Why the strike
The AI management, according to striking pilots has violated the memorandum of settlement signed in November 2009 on implementing the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations besides curtailing the number of flights by 30 to 40 per cent. The pilots say, there are many examples where AI has given up lucrative routes to other private airlines. They have asked the prime minister to order a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the mismanagement of the airline that has caused mounting losses, and to take steps to restore it to its past glory. It has demanded a probe into the cancellation and withdrawal of profitable routes and bilateral "giving away" to either private or foreign carriers, and the orders for acquisition of 111 new planes between the erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India.u00a0 The pilots say that prior to the merger,
Air India and Indian Airlines had losses of Rs 455 crore and Rs 280 crore, respectively, but in three years this had escalated to Rs 16,000 crore, despite hiring consultancy firm Deloitte at a cost of Rs 90 crore to advise on corrective measures.

Leaking money
Airports in the country are losing a couple of crores a day because of the Air India pilots' agitation. An airline has to pay an airport about Rs 1,50,000 for every take-off and landing of an Airbus A-320 aircraft. Air India operates about 80 flights a day just from Delhi. Which means, Delhi Airport earns about Rs 1 crore a day.
At Mumbai airport, Air India has about 80-90 take-offs and landings a day, of which about 70-80 per cent have been impacted.

'Peacemaker'
Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav on Sunday sent an SMS to employees of the national carrier asking them to "persuade" the striking pilots to return to the negotiating table and work to "save our airline".
Mr. Jadhav said the Indian Commercial Pilots Association struck "work illegally for pay increase and parity, thus threatening our survival."

"This (is) when a Supreme Court judge is studying this issue. Risking our airline's survival at this time is criminal. We all condemn corruption in public life, and culprits must be punished," he said. He said all actions against which the pilots are agitating occurred many years ago, for which the current administration cannot be held responsible. "In order to save our airline, I appeal to you to cooperate and persuade our pilot friends to return to work, and discussions - let us start afresh," Mr. Jadhav said in the SMS. The strike by Air India pilots entered the fifth day on Sunday forcing the national carrier to slash its operation to 40 flights across its network from the regular 165. About 800 pilots, belonging to the erstwhile Indian Airlines owing allegiance to Indian Commercial Pilots Association, have been on an indefinite strike from the midnight of April 26 demanding pay hike.

On a wing and a prayer
Despite myriad revenue enhancement plans, the national carrier's daily losses have widened to Rs 21 crore from about Rs 15 crore two years back. The airline is loosing every four crore extra everyday due to the strike.
The airline's daily cash inflow now is Rs 36 crore (from domestic and international operations), but outgo stands at a whopping Rs 57 crore. So, annual losses this fiscal could cross Rs 7,500 crore The country's fourth largest airline (by passengers carried) operates 320 flights and carries 72,500 passengers daily. In the last two years, working capital loans of the airline have climbed to Rs 22,000 crore from Rs 16,000 crore. And another Rs 18,000 crore worth of loans are also on AI's books for aircraft purchase.

Up in the air
Industry sources say, a maximum of 11 hours flying is allowed as per DGCA rules for international carriers. And for domestic carriers, a maximum of 8 hours of flying is permitted to the cabin crew staff as well as cockpit crew. In private airlines also same rules apply 8 hours of maximum flying is permiited in the case of domestic carriers. "The Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines who have international operations, have separate crew for international flying and domestic flying," said well informed industry sources. "What management want is that they want us to cover international as well as domestic operations by making flying hours at 11 hours. But they are not ready to give us the salary which is being given in Air India for the same. Air India crew gets double the sum what we get in Indian Airlines for the same. How can you have two pay structures in one company," said a senior Air India official seeking anonymity.