Jet fires 3 more; HC restrains pilots from strike

Jet Airways has sacked three more pilots, according to the National Aviator's Guild.

Stung by more than half of its pilots taking mass sick leave that forced cancellation of about 190 flights by 1400 hrs, Jet Airways on Tuesday termed the agitation as illegal and secured a restrain order from Bombay High Court against any strike.

"The Bombay High Court has passed an order restraining any kind of strike," Jet CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer told PTI on phone and added that all possible efforts were being taken to save passengers from inconvenience and restore normalcy.

"We were assured by the National Aviators Guild last night that there would be no strike and we went by this assurance. But, we were shocked by the mass sick leave by about 360 pilots...it is nothing but a simulated strike," he said.

Jet Airways said since 10 pm on Monday night, a total of 163 captains and 198 first officers, reported sick disrupting the flight schedule and causing inconvenience to the travelling public.

The number of pilots who reported sick represents nearly 40 per cent of the total airline pilot strength of 760 national pilots.

As a result of this, 186 flights - 154 domestic and 32 international services - have been cancelled or affected through out the Jet Airways network. About 13,000 traveling passengers have been affected. A majority of the passengers have been transferred to other carriers, a Jet Airways statement said.

Out of the total domestic flights operated by the airline approximately 25 per cent of the flights have operated until noon on Tuesday.

All JetLite flights have been operated as per the normal schedule.  All Jet Airways wide body long haul flights are currently operating as normal with foreign pilots, who have been pulled out from leave and standby.

In order to minimise inconvenience to passengers, Jet Airways moved an application in the High Court to pass an order restraining the NAG and its members from going on any form of strike and the High Court has passed an order of such restraint. Jet Airways is expecting the written form of this restraining order and will take appropriate action.

The Jet pilots have been protesting the sacking of two of their colleagues by the management for reportedly joining the guild.

Asked what action the management would take against the striking pilots and if the two sacked pilots could be reinstated, Prock-Shauer said: "The matter is on in the Labour Commission and we would not like to comment."

The civil aviation secretary has asked Jet Airways chairman to talk to the agitating pilots and resolve the issue.

Mumbai was the worst-hit by the cancellation of about 120 flights by Jet Airways and its subsidiary JetLite followed by Delhi where at least 10 flights of the airlines were cancelled. Flight operations were also hit in Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi.

A large number of passengers who were booked on Jet were accommodated in flights of Air India and other carriers. The carrier termed the failure of the pilots to return to work as an attempt to "sabotage the operations".

While Jet chairman Naresh Goyal met civil aviation secretary  Madhavan Nambiar and briefed him on the situation, home secretary G K Pillai wrote to chief secretaries of all states to review the situation with regard to the private airline's pilots reporting sick en masse.

"The state chief secretaries have been asked, in consultation with their respective Home Secretaries and Labour Secretaries, to see whether there is a necessity to invoke the provisions of the ESMA to ensure restoration of services so that general public is not put to inconvenience," an official spokesperson said.

According to National Aviators Guild (NAG), the pilots union of the Jet Airways, at least 145 Captains and 154 co-pilots reported sick this morning. As many as four international flights of the airline were cancelled, they said.

To meet the situation, the airline sent doctors to the homes of some of the pilots and co-pilots in different cities who reported sick even as it sought intervention of Directorate General of Civil Aviation to resolve the crisis.

Taking note of the serious situation, the Home Secretary is understood to have decided to act on the basis of the laid down guidelines, called civil aviation requirements, to deal with the agitation which has been called to protest the sacking of two senior pilots.

The relevant CARs, the spokesperson said, noted that any act on the part of pilots which could lead to last minute cancellation of flights and harassment of passengers "would be treated as an act against public interest".

Jet Airways in a press statement said that a section of the pilots have resorted to a "simulated strike by reporting sick".

"This organised activity is a planned sabotage of operations that will damage the airline's operations and inconvenience the travelling public," it said.

While the NAG had on Monday decided to call off its proposed strike against the management's sacking of two senior pilots - Capt Sam Thomas and Capt Balaraman, its members decided an alternate course to protest action like going on mass casual leave.

The union had termed the sackings "an act of vendetta" and demanded the reinstatement of the pilots.

The airways had last month terminated their services after they along with others formed a trade union body in the company. NAG president Girish Kaushik said that the matter was entirely in the hands of the management and that the Union only wanted the two pilots to be reinstated.

At the meeting between Jet chief Goyal and civil aviation secretary Nambiar, the Ministry asked the premier private carrier to set up control offices at their headquarters, bases, offices and airports.

The airline has also been asked to take steps to put in place a full refund mechanism "without any deduction" and ensure full facilitation of passengers and take care of their amenities to minimise their inconvenience.

The airline was also asked to ensure that their passengers were accommodated in other airlines depending on availability of seats. Meanwhile, Air India said it was in touch with Jet Airways to accommodate the stranded passengers.

The national carrier has also offered to operate special flights for this purpose if required and kept aircraft and crew on standby. AI has put its officials on duty at various airports across the country to offer a helping hand to Jet passengers of both domestic and international services.

Subsequent to its serving a strike notice on the management, the issue was referred to the regional labour commissioner.

A conciliatory meeting was called on August 31 between both the management and the union, which claims a representation of over 650 of the over 1,000 pilots in Jet Airways.

Referring to the directions of the Labour Commissioner, the statement said, "Jet Airways has been in a conciliation process with the pilots. The regional labour commissioner had categorically stated that any strike by the pilots during this pendency of conciliation, would be deemed an illegal act.