Air India employees stage protest to Parliament

A section of Air India pilots, technicians and employees on Thursday marched to Parliament demanding immediate government action to save the cash-strapped national carrier. The employees, holding Air India CMD Arvind Jadhav responsible for the present condition of the airline, also demanded his removal and regularization of the payment of their due salary and productivity linked incentive.

We do not want to go on strike, but the way we (the employees) were being held responsible for the present situation, our patience has ran out, so if we do not get any response from the management we will be forced to go on strike from November 24, as decided,” Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) President Captain Shailendra Singh said.

Giving an ultimatum to the management, the ICPA, Air Corporation Employees’ Union (ACEU) and Indian Airlines Technician’s Association (IATA) and Indian Airlines Officer’s Association (IAOA) said if the employees do not get their due salary and productivity linked incentives by November 24, all 32,000 employees would be forced to go on strike.

Alleging that Air India management was closing all profitable routes, instead of loss making ones, General Secretary of ACEU J B Kadian said that “this is a systematic approach to sabotage the company and we are being projected as the reason being the current financial situation.

The protesting employees, mostly from the erstwhile Indian Airlines, alleged that when Air India and Indian Airlines were merged they were told that it was being done for the profit of the company but “now we are apprehensive about the survival of the company.”

Later, the employees handed over a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil and MPs demanding their intervention. On Tuesday last, a group of Air India pilots staged a silent march at the domestic airport in Mumbai to protest delay in payment of their salaries and allowances.

7 crore loss to airlines in India

An Air Deccan flight, which was grounded because of a bird hit at the Visakhapatnam airport. Bird hits have proved especially expensive to airlines this year.

Cash-strapped airlines have been pounded on another front suffering a loss of at least Rs 7 crore this year on account of bird hits. As of October, 241 bird-hit cases were reported.

Kingfisher airlines suffered the most, with 60 such incidents, followed by Jet Airways (49), SpiceJet (30), Indigo (27), Air India (24) GoAir (7) and Paramount (1).

International airlines had also reported 34 such incidents, according to figures released by the Civil Aviation Ministry today.

Jet Airways suffered a loss of Rs 8.91 lakhs, Indigo Rs 87 lakh, SpiceJet Rs 5.57 crore and GoAir Rs 45.6 lakh. The figures of losses incurred by Air India and Kingfisher were not available.

The National Bird Control Committee (NBCC) set up by Ministry of Civil Aviation on the recommendation of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) met under the chairmanship of Civil Aviation secretary M.M. Nambiar and suggested several measures to reduce the number of such cases.

Last year, there were about 304 bird-hit cases, while in 2007 and 2006 it was 217 and 167 respectively.

Ahmedabad airport reported an increasing number of bird hits.

The NBCC has made it mandatory for airlines to report online about any bird-hit incident and put on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) website.

Pilots have been instructed to follow correct bird-strike reporting procedure, a statement from the ministry said.

They also reviewed the action taken by the DGCA upon the directions issued by it in its first meeting in June, like those to state governments for active participation of Chief Secretary/Commissioner/Head of the District in the Airfield Environment Management Committee (AEMC) meeting of Airport along with local civic body representatives or police.

They also discussed problems of abattoir in Gazipur and Sadar Bazar area, which attract scavenging birds.

Apart from it, the committee also suggested amendment to sections of Aircraft Rules to allow imposing of fine of Rs 100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or both for the offense of leaving any animal, object or bird in the movement area of an aerodrome.

Equipment and methods used at various airports, both public and private, for bird strike prevention were reviewed.

DGCA, on the basis of airline reports, has identified Ahmedabad airport as the one showing increasing number of bird strike and the AEMC has been directed to prepare an action plan for time bound control of bird activity and its implementation.

The scope of NBCC has been widened to include animals and guidelines have been issued to airport operators and airlines to carry out special drive before the monsoon.