Air India Pilots refuse to operate flights due to SARS

[rsoman]

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)

******

[Notso Fantastic]

You've reported that as from ndtv.com. The comments at the end are, presumably, added by yourself, and it is not immediately apparent. Unfortunately it seems a little unfair to add such personal comments when the pilots concerned have been given no chance to put their case. I suppose one could say pilots are used to being blamed for everything, even when they are killed in accidents, but to report a news item like this and insinuate your personal oppinions is unfair. Why don't you just stick to reporting the news item with any explanatory illuminations without beating your own personal drum (if I have read your post right)?

[rsoman]

Not so fantastic
Fair enough and I have removed my comments. But any close observer of Air India and Indian Airlines pilot managment relationships might agree that in many cases the pilots actions in many cases appear to defy logic. Do also keep in mind that India is not a yet a fully deregulated aviation market and with Air india carrying a lions share of international passengers any major disruption can cause severe inconvenience to the ordinary public.Also you may find it unbeleivable but apparently basic things in the western world like "trip cancellation insurance" are all virtually unheard of India and air passenger rights/denied boarding compensation etc pathetic! So if you have felt I have beaten my "own personal drum" it is from years of experience as a keen obesever of the Indian air travel industry, a market which is still very much a closed market and although big doesnt attract much attention anywhere!
That said, I take your point and have edited my comments and will wait till any more involved persons (I am not involved with Air India in any capacity by the way) put forward their views in this discussion

Cheers

Yet another report
from http://www.keral.com/nrinews/index.htm#7

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Air-India (AI) operations from the Cochin International Airport were severely hit on Friday following an agitation by the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), demanding a certificate from the airlines that the accompanying crew had not flown into SARS-affected regions during the last 10 days.

Several flights took off hours behind schedule after the airlines worked out a contingency plan to face the situation. The services that were delayed by more than two hours were AI 935 Kochi-Dubai, AI 943 Kochi-Thiruvananthapuram-Muscat and AI 947 Kochi-Muscat-Abu Dhabi.

The airport witnessed tense moments earlier in the day when passengers of AI 943 staged an onboard gherao preventing the AI crew from disembarking after they were informed of the delay.

The pilot who was to take over from the crew who brought the aircraft to Kochi from Alain, UAE, walked away after the AI management refused to certify that the accompanying crew had not flown to SARS-hit countries in the preceding 10 days.

Following this, a pilot in the management cadre had to be summoned to fly the passengers to Thiruvananthapuram and to Muscat. “We're managing the show with executive pilots who are in the management cadre. Though IPG-affiliated pilots are reporting for duty, they simply walk out of the operations room the moment we reject their demand for a certificate,” an official said.

Alleging that there was a ‘hidden agenda’ behind the agitation, the official pointed out that official airlines of SARS-hit countries were still operating. “They have cut down frequencies due to the load factor. But the crew is fully co-operating,” the official pointed out.

The agitation, meanwhile, has hit the AI's 310 fleet. The AI has taken an aircraft on loan from the Indian Airlines to ferry US and Europe-bound passengers from Kochi to Mumbai on Saturday.

The airlines has also set up a monitoring cell with its executive head Capt P G Sudhakaran, airport manager Micheal Joseph, Kochi manager KM Kurien as members. The cell, with a view to minimising inconvenience to passengers, will co-ordinate flight plans including diversion to Kochi from other stations.

*****

Cheers

[Pushpak]

Fire and Hire

This is the best time AirIndia can set their house in order...Should close the Airline and Let every one join on contracts. Having said that it applies for all the employees in AI as the whole lot need to wake up or else its bad news .....
Suffered enough

[Jagbag]

Closing the airline is not a viable option. It would only add to the confusion and the only sufferers would be travelling public and the employees and of course the exchequer. The very limited international aviation presence India has would be eroded. No point "re inventing the wheel". It would be more appropriate that the government addresses the issue carefully and instead of denying the existence of the threat- accept it and take precautionary measures.

Also to increase the international presence - they should allow private domestic airlines to go international instead of trying to use "license raj" to prevent competition for its loss making public sector units. Although I hasten to add - that I for one will probably suffer from this move, but recognise the inevitability of it. How come Indian Air Lines is not having the same problems when they are operating on similar SARS affected routes? Because of the possibility that private operators would usurp their market image which is already staggering under huge losses!

[katiecorrigan]

Are Cochin, Kochi and Goa the same airport/area?

Thanks,
KatieC.

[Jagbag]

Katie

Cochin and Kochi are two cities on the Kerala coast which is on the western coast of South India- and Goa is between Cochin and Bombay (Mumbai). It has an airport on the western sea board called Dabolim. "All three are beautiful places to see with lovely beaches- no sales pitch I promise!

Hope this helps.

[katiecorrigan]

It does, thanks very much.

KatieC.

[mutt]

Rather than discussing shutting down the airline and the Indian aviation industry in general, why don’t we stick to the "actual" problem?

SARS exists, so much so that some airlines have stopped ALL flights to Singapore and started giving facemasks to crews on most other Asian routes. Air India continued to operate the route.

The Indian Pilot Guild (IPG) decided to protect their members and stopped them from flying to Singapore. Non-union management pilots then operated these flights.

Stage 2 for the IPG came in to effect last Wednesday, they advised all CAPTAINS to check to see if any of their crew/cabin crew had operated services to SARS areas in the past 10 days, if so, they were to offload the crewmember and bring in a standby.

I happen to know the first guy who was faced with this instruction. He showed up for his flight and was confronted by airline management and union management; he had already lost his first option by "Not going sick"... so he was left with two other options:

1: Fly the flight and suffer the wrath of the union.
2: Not fly the flight and suffer the wrath of the airline management.

I know which option he took, but put yourself in the same situation and which option would you take????

Mutt.

[Jetstream Rider]

A bit of perspective here...

Lets just look at a couple of facts.

How many of you guys don't take Malaria tablets when you go to a Malarial country? Malaria kills a higher percentage of sufferrers than SARS and kills 1600 people PER DAY, EVERY DAY. That, at the moment is much more deadly and much more likely than catching a dose of SARS. I agree that SARS needs to be contained before it becomes a major epidemic/pandemic, but there are plenty of things that are worse at the moment.

Face masks do next to nothing, a virus will pass straight through them and it is more a politeness in Eastern countries then a preventative. Washing your hands and being generally clean is a lot more important than using a mask.

I do not support or condemn the guys in the union or Air India as I have no idea what the real circumstances are, but the above is a couple of things to try and put SARS in perspective. I am not saying do nothing, but I do suggest that the media are hyping it a lot and this is having a huge knock on affect.

[rsoman]

Mutt
Some points you may not be aware of.
The IPG also deos not want to operate flights to Kuwait.Why?
"Security situation in the middle east". That too at a time when every other airline has resumed services. These and SARS aree two different issues.

Second point, it is not just the crew alone, but also any aircraft which operates into the SARS region in the past 10 days.

Now what does this mean. Air India is primnarily a two a/c type operation. They have about 8 (if my memory serves correct) 747-400 plus a couple of 300 combis and one or two classics. Now the 747-400s are mostly used in the routes to US (EWR/JFK and ORD) as well as the ones to FRA/LON terminators. So these aircraft are generally not affected (the cabin crew on a JFK leg generally go on a 10 to 12 day duty schedule).

The remaining are about 15+ A310s. Now this is the workhorse of the fleet operating not just to the so called SARS regions (HKG/SIN/BKK/KUL) but also the same aircraft are used on flights to the middle east where Air India has an extenisve network.

Now coming back to the real situation. The US/ Europe routes on AI has been loss making or at best break even for years! So the very flights the IPG iis ordinarilly willing to undertake is not the one which is giving revenue for the company.

The routes which AI make money are the middle east routes most of which are operated by the A310s. Unfortunately these are the routes which IPG by its directive end up not operating because many of the aircraft/crew are also operated to SIN/BKK routes. So what happens, the routes where AI makes money end up not being operated, not to speak of inconveniencing thousands of passengers, most of them poor expatriate workers trying to go back to their companies after taking a vaction one/two/three years away from their families and who loose their jobs if they dont report back on time (and who earn even in the middle east one tenth of the salary IPG members make). I am not speaking of the well of expatriate Indians in the middle East which I know there are a few, but the ordinary taxi driver/gardner/driver who slog it out there to make a hard earned living.

As JagBag pointed out how come Indian Airlines pilots who also operates to SIN/BKK and KUL as well as KWI does not have any of the problems and apply the same yardsticks the AI pilots face with? The answer again as JetBag points out lies in the fact that IA pilots know that if they do the same , they will just end up giving the market to the private sector Jet and Sahara who have something like 50 aircraft between them for the domestic routes and will make use of the windfall. While the IPG knows that the government and AI is at their mercy with not many alternatives since international flights are tightly regulated into India and capacity is limited.

Just like the domestic aviation industry in India got a big boost thanks to another of these misguided industrial action by the Indian Airliens pilots sone years back when the government at the time was finally pressured into allowing private players in the industry, it is high time that the government puts an end to Air India pilots holding the country to ransom by opening up the international aviation sector by allowing more flights to India by foreign carries by liberalising the restrictive air services agreements as well as allowing private carriers to operate International services.

Cheers

[tiba]

hey........there jus seems to be too many assumptions and presumptions here......why dont we all jus stick to the basic principles here. First of all i wish to understand what is the "hidden" agenda here of the IPG? Some of us work in countries and companies where there is no option of forming unions forget joining them........employees choose to be part of unions understanding that it is for their protection and benifit. And if a union issues a directive, primarily i would presume it is for the benefit of its members.....now coming back to the entire pallava about how this affects the passengers and the flights and the "poor" gulf labour load and all da jazzz.......frankly lets just keep that issue aside for the moment and deal wit it in another forum.......what we talking about here is the merits of this directive.......if at all is any......As a part of the aviation industry most of us will agree that the SARS issue is something that effects each one us frontline employees directly. As far as i understand AI management has not come up with any directives or protection of its frontline employees against the exposure to this fatal disease. So here we have a cockpit crew union having issued a directive enables them to verify whether any of their cabin crew has flown to singapore in the past ten days and off schedin them if this being the case and replaced.........now did the directive state that if any member of the crew has to flown to singapore at all then they would never fly again with them?????? 10 days is a safe quarantine period that minimises the risks of the rest of the crew of contracting anything...........now what is wrong with that? The cabin crews are multi aircraft qualified and fly to various destinations exposing them to all kinds of passsengers whereas you have cockpit crew members that are single aircraft qualified flying to limited destinations and their primary contact on board the aircraft are not the passengers but the cabin crew. Now what is wrong with the union taking the initiative to protect its members where the management has failed to do so? Sars is not an issue that should be taken lightly just because it has not happened to someone you know.......... it is a worldwide increasing epidemic that should be of paramount concern to anyone working in the travel industry. The fact that this matter with Air India is a now a full blown war between the management and the union totally defeats the purpose of this directive in the first place. What i understand is that in Air India you choose to be a member of the union IPG and if not does not mean that you automatically become a part of the management. The executive pilots who are a part of the management have been asked to become members of the management at the managements discretion when they see it as fit..........in the meantime if you are not a member of either you have no protection anyway.......also understand that the IPG pilot members have not refused to fly at all...........they have jus not been allowed to follow a directive that protects them and thereby been stopped from flyin and further suspended by the management. So now step in the executive (management member) pilots who are required to cover the open slots through no choice of theirs with nothing protecting them merely following the orders of the management..............The final authority on board the aircraft rests with the pilot in command as does the ultimate responsibility should anything go wrong. I personally dont see anything wrong with the pilots making the effort that would minimise the risks of contracting sars amongst its crew members and through the chain of contact also be protecting the "poor" passengers from being exposed from it.

Now does this sound too idealistic to any of you?

[rsoman]

Tiba
Yes it sounds too idealistic
Now what is the gurantee that the receptionist in the hotel which the SARS conscious AI pilot checks in or the waiter who serves him in the restuarant on his New York layover after a "SARS free" aircraft wasnt holidiyaing in Toronto two days before , a place where there is much disputed "World Health Organisation " advisory in place.

As for the "poor gulf labour and all da jazz", it may not mean anything to you, but it does for me seeing quite a few people loose their jobs and family going into poverty just because of the actions of a minority whose actions doesnt seem to make any sense to most of their fellow contry men. In case you dont know, AI fills most of its planes (and makes their money ) form their middle east routes not wilth PLATINUM frequent flyers but people like those who you have just rubbished flying to and from work slogging it out like you and I never will.

Sorry if I am being outspoken but the facts are facts whether it is unpaltable or not! If I seem to be exagerrating, check with any impartial obsever of the Indian civil aviation scene who will tell you pretty much the same thing.

[mutt]

Rsoman,

Tiba is extremely familiar with the passengers who fly between India and the Gulf, but as he said that discussion is for a different topic. This discussion was about the pilots right to protect themselves, a right which you obviously disagree with!

Mutt.

[rsoman]

Mutt
Am I missing something here! On one hand I hear of atleast one airline in an affcted country being faced with a situation that passengers are not willing to fly into/through the country and hence may even result in temporary closure of the airline.

On the otherhand you have an airline where the pilots are forcing the airline into the red although you have passengers!

I will agree with your view as well as Tibas that "This discussion was about the pilots right to protect themselves, a right which you obviously disagree " if you can come up with facts which prove that other airlines are providing their piolts with "protective measures" against SARS which Air India is apparently failing its own pilots to do?

Also as asked before by me and Jagbag, why is it that another government owned airline with an equally strong union flying to many of the SARs affected areas (as the IPG claims) like SIN and BKK, Indian Airlines are not bothered?

Also even more interesting, Air India does not even fly into two of the three countries with the largest numbers of SARS deaths, China and Canada. Hong Kong , yes, but you might be interested to note that Air India was operating the HKG flights for a few days before this "increased SARS awareness camapign" with management pilots anyway.

Interesting that while on one hand people speak about "hard times in the industry with passengers keeing away from flying" there are some others whose aim seems to be to bring their employers as well as themselves to the path of self destruction!

[tiba]

rsoman

first of all i would like to clarify that i did not in any fashion mean to be derogatory about using a figure of speech toward the passengers.......so lets get that misunderstanding out of the way. As far as you championing the cause of the gulf load of passengers is highly commendable but not relevant to this discussion at all. In fact please do start another thread which is specifically pertaining to it and i will gladly participate. I am interested in your input regarding any specific information you may know of or have regarding this dispute.

Since you obviously do not agree with this what according to you are the alternatives???? We are specifically talking about an airline company and how it protects its employees from conditions that directly affect them. Obviously there is no guarantee to anything here from the hotel receptionist ............etc etc.....here we look at the an individuals responsibility in protecting themselves...........lets not even start involving ourselves with absurdities now.

You obviously have reasons to believe that this is wrong.......do have any particular personal reasons for this? Any grouse with the ineffectiveness of unions that you would like to share with us or is this the extent of your objectivity?

[rsoman]

Tiba/Mutt
May be reading this will make things clearer
fromm www.rediff.com
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Air-India on Sunday suspended 15 more agitating pilots for refusing to operate and abandoning flights at various destinations in view of the SARS outbreak, taking the total number of suspensions so far to 27.

The suspension is with immediate effect pending an inquiry into their conduct, A-I sources in Mumbai said.

A-I had on Saturday suspended 12 pilots for refusing to operate flights at New York, Paris and Mumbai over the past few days.

The Indian Pilot Guild's 200 members went on a strike after refusing to fly to SARS-hit areas unless the management certified that the crew had not visited a SARS-hit area in the last 10 days.

***But there are indications that the pilots are also demanding additional pay.****

Toughening its stand against striking A-I pilots, the government on Sunday asked them to withdraw their stir unconditionally and said action would be taken against all those who refuse to fly.

"The government is quite determined that they (striking pilots) withdraw their instructions unconditionally and fly," Civil Aviation Secretary and Air India chairman K Roy Paul told a TV channel in Delhi.

All their demands would be considered only after they withdrew their strike, he said.

He said the demand of health certificates for co-crew members was not negotiable. "It is absurd, illogical and irrational."

According to A-I sources, a total of 56 pilots owing allegiance to the Indian Pilots Guild are facing disciplinary action.

Meanwhile, A-I is taking on contract some retired pilots, who still hold valid licenses, to augment the strength of its executive pilots, who number around 160.

"We have identified five retired commanders -- four for Boeing 747 and one for Airbus 310 -- so far and are issuing them letters to take them on contract subject to them being medically fit," an A-I spokesperson said in Mumbai.

They would undergo the necessary simulator training and flight checks before being deployed on flights, he said.

At the same time, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has relaxed for A-I pilots flying time and duty time limitations (FDTL) by one and two hours, respectively as a special case in view of the present situation.

The regulatory body has told A-I that the extra flying time from nine to 10 hours and duty time from 12 to 14 hours has been allowed provided there is pro-rata increase in the rest period.

This step has invited strong protests from the IPG, which said it would challenge the order in the Mumbai High Court on Monday.

Stating that the DGCA order will enable A-I optimum utilisation of pilots, the A-I spokesman said, "This (going to the court) is understandable as all actions of the IPG are aimed at disrupting flight schedules. They must realise that A-I is equally determined to foil their attempts and keep the services going."

Reacting to IPG's assertion that they had not put forward any financial demand, the spokesman in Mumbai said, "We would like a written communication from the guild that they have no such demand and that they are willing to undergo CAT III training. This is the minimum they can do to prove their point."

The spokesman had on Saturday said that the IPG was demanding $35 per hour flying allowance for all pilots in view of the CAT III landing instrument installed in Delhi, irrespective of whether they fly to Delhi or not.


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Cheers

[sinner]

Yeah what is the ulterior motive ???

Just because an airline is making a profit while others are struggling doesn't mean it should disregard the safety of its crew , whats more important your health or money ?

[rsoman]

Sinner
So are you suggesting that British Airways and Singapore Airlines as well as all the others who are flying to SARS areas are having special protection measures for the crews while AI is refusing to do so?
I may not know much of flight crewing limitations but insisting that any aircraft/crew be quarantined for 10 days before you operate the flight isn't it asking for too much (even with the overstaffing Air India is having).

Incidentally the Air india Cabin crew who also seem to be concerned appear to have no such demands, especially considering the fact that they are equally exposed to SARS?

Please enlighten me!

Cheers

[sinner]

Guess you don't know the facts but the directive does not state that the aircraft should be quarantined for 10 days , but only the cabin or cockpit crew . I managed to get hold of a copy of the directive thanks to a journalist friend of mine .

As for the cabin crew their union is too weak to take on the management . The cabin crew has 2-3 different unions , one representing the male flight attendants , the second representing the female flight attendants & still one more representing the older female flight attendants who recently fought for their retirement age to be extended to 58 & won . Also none of them are license holders so if they go on strike etc they can be easily replaced by any one who just has to undergo a very basic training in flight safety & inflight service . This has been done before . In the late 80's(if i remember correctly) the cabin crew had gone on strike & they were replaced with people from other departments & various catering colleges .