Air India pilot's body mounts pressure on Aviation Ministry to clear long-standing dues

Indian Commercial Pilot's Association has appealed to the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to disburse their long-pending dues immediately. The development comes after a meeting held on July 8 that was attended by Indian Pilot's Guild, officials of MoCA and Chairman & Managing Director (CMD).

The pilots' body had made it clear that they would support the airline during the testing times of the pandemic provided that every employee of the flagship carrier shares the burden and agrees for a deduction in the individual income.

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"Firstly, we expressed our disapproval for trying to attack the frontline workers of Air India who worked during the peak of the pandemic. However, we expressed our willingness to support our CMD during these testing times in the interest of the airline, provided every employee of Air India shares the burden by taking a percentage cut on gross emoluments as per individual's income," the pilot's body said.

It also asked the company to follow the pattern of leave without pay on a month to month basis to be applied across the board for all employees in line with market conditions. Otherwise, the Pilot Association has asked the officials to disburse the pending amount of pilots and allow them to quit Air India with immediate effect. 

"Secondly, if the above is not possible, we informed the MoCA officials to clear our long pending 25 per cent dues immediately and allow pilots to quit Air India with immediate effect," they said.

The Pilot's guild has also warned the management to not compel them to resort to any agitation. "We have also requested the management not to instigate us into any unpleasant agitation at this crucial time. We are only standing by principle with a demand that any pay cut has to be across the board as per market standards for all employees," the pilots said.

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A follow-up meeting has been planned on July 13 to discuss the same.

Air India has been instrumental in the largest evacuation initiative, the 'Vande Bharat Mission' which has repatriated over five lakh citizens to India from 137 countries. The mission was launched in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to bring stranded Indian nationals back to India.

(With ANI inputs)