Some Air-India pilots report for duty, defy IPG

Defying the directive of the Indian Pilots Guild, some pilots of Air-India on Wednesday reported for duty and rostered for flights even as the airline was considering hiring pilots of Indian origin with foreign airlines, presently laid off, on short-term contracts.

"Some line pilots have reported for flying and rostered for flights," A-I sources said, but declined to reveal the number who have joined duty.

The airline in a statement said it operated a special flight on the Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai-Jeddah-Mumbai sector with a Boeing 747-200. It also plans to operate three additional flights to the Gulf sector on Thursday.

A-I spokesman said in a statement 'as more and more unionised pilots ignore the directive of Indian Pilots Guild and report for duty, the airline will gradually reinstate more flights'.

The A-I spokesman said normalcy of flight operations is expected to be attained soon with the management taking additional measures, including hiring of pilots of Indian origin.

"We are looking for Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A310 pilots of Indian origin in the Far East who have been laid off due to present turmoil and hiring them for two-three months only after necessary approvals from their respective airlines," he said.

Apart from this, the airline is also expediting training of its 40 odd pilots, he said. The airline intends to send them to Airbus training centre at Toulouse in France to expedite training so that they could be inducted for flying duties a month in advance, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, A-I has begun reinstating flights with the Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai-Jedah-Mumbai sector being operated on Wednesday with a Boeing 747, he said adding that this service had been cancelled as per the contingency plan.

Three more return flights from Mumbai to Bahrain-Doha Bangalore-Dubai and to Calicut-Dubai will operate on Thursday, while plans are underway to operate two more flights per day from May 2, the sectors and schedules of which were being worked out, he added.