This is not a joke!
Taken from
www.ndtv.com (an indian news site)
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Air India talks fail, Govt suspends 12 pilots
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NDTV Correspondent
Saturday, April 26, 2003 (Mumbai):
Taking a tough stand, the government today decided to place 12 Air India pilots under suspension after the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) refused to withdraw the directives for operating in SARS affected areas.
"We have no other option but to adopt this measure as we cannot allow any employee to hold the airline and the public to ransom," said Jitendra Bhargava, Air India Director, Public Relations.
More than 50 pilots have been served with letters for their refusal to operate flights to Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuwait and will face disciplinary actions.
Asked if disciplinary action has been contemplated against IPG president Capt Kenneth Khan, who had declined to operate the London-Mumbai flight yesterday, or any other officer bearers, Bhargava said "action will be taken against all who refuse to operate flights, demanding a certificate".
Contingency plan
Due to the continuing standoff, Air India has decided to put the contingency plan in operation.
According to reports, the airline will operate 22 flights from midnight till 10 pm (IST) tomorrow.
"The changes effected in flight schedule include operations of flights to London directly from Mumbai instead of routing them via Delhi as is done for some of the London-New York and London-Frankfurt flights", Air India said in a release here today.
The passengers, who have booked to travel to London, New York and Frankfurt from Delhi, should contact the airport for the revised schedule, the release said.
Theses changes have been effected to ensure optimal utilisation of executive pilots so that schedule of services operated with Boeing 747-400 and 747-300 aircraft is not affected.
Some of the flights which have been revised are AI-112A Mumbai-Delhi, AI-1866 Mumbai-Kochi, AI-620 Mumbai-Bangalore, AI-725 Mumbai-Abu Dhabi, AI-600 Mumbai-Hyderabad.
The others are AI-111 Mumbai-London-New York, AI-145 Mumbai-Paris-Newark, AI-165 Mumbai-Frankfurt, AI-827 Mumbai-Riyadh, AI-853 Mumbai-Kuwait, AI-400 Mumbai-Chennai-Singapore, AI-963 Mumbai- Kozhikode-Jeddah, AI-125 Mumbai-London-Chicago, AI-729 Mumbai-Delhi-Muscat-Abu Dhabi, AI 821-Mumbai-Riyadh.
Defiant pilots
After talks with senior Civil Aviation Ministry officials, the IPG said they would not operate flights to SARS affected regions unless AI provided a certificate that the accompanying crew had not travelled to these regions in the last 10 days.
"Such a certificate has been given for some flights so I do not see why it could not be extended to all flights", IPG general secretary Capt Vikrant Sansare told reporters after its managing committee meeting in Mumbai.
"We have also sought an appointment with Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj and if satisfied with the health enforcement procedures to prevent SARS infection amongst the crew, we will consider withdrawal of the directives," he said.
The deadlock means that flights will be affected. Air India admits that upto 50 per cent of their flights to South East Asia will be hit though they insist that flights to Europe and America will not be affected.
(With PTI inputs)
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