The tussle between Air India and a group of its pilots is ongoing, but the airline has reportedly extended the deadline for them to accept the revised salary structure. Air India CEO had earlier said that many pilots have, in fact, accepted the new contracts. But there are still quite a few who have not.
Deadline extension
Air India has reportedly extended the deadline for pilots who haven’t yet signed the new contracts, to do so by the end of this week. The airline has been at loggerheads with two unions – the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), which have opposed certain terms and conditions of the revised contracts.
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The previous deadline for all pilots to accept the contracts was April 30th. The decision to give more time reportedly comes after some pilots, who have not accepted the salary structure, requested an extension. Air India has not yet released an official statement about it.
Air India recently held a discussion with employees after two pilot unions were unhappy with the revised salary structure and HR leave policies, among other things. Among the biggest issues that the unions have with the revised salary terms is the airline’s assurance of 40 hours of flying allowance every month. This was 70 hours in the pre-pandemic days.
However, Air India’s CEO Campbell Wilson recently said that most of the flying crew has accepted the new contracts. Some pilots have also said that the management has assured that no clause in the revised contracts will be misused.
Resistance
Moneycontrol reports that the two pilot unions held a meeting on May 9th to discuss the issue, with many members retaining their stance of not accepting the contracts. Sources have revealed that the larger view at the meeting was that pilots should resist signing the contracts as some provisions remain questionable. Air India deadline extension was also reportedly discussed.
The development comes at a time when Air India is inundated with applications from experienced pilots, mostly from those who worked for Go First. The airline recently stated that it received around 700 applications in the span of one week.
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Finding experienced pilots for its growing fleet has been a challenge for Air India, but recent developments with Go First have led to a large chunk of experienced cockpit crew knocking on its door.
The airline had recently held walk-in interviews across various cities for pilots, and the response was so good that it had to extend the interview for one more day.
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Source: Moneycontrol