Air India resumes flights to US and Europe

Mumbai: As part of its contingency plan, Air India on Wednesday resumed international flights to the US and Europe. The resumption of flights to the US and Europe by the national airline came on a day when the Delhi High Court reserved its ruling on a plea by the agitating Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) challenging a single order restraining its pilots from continuing the "illegal" strike. As it began implementing the contingency plan on the ninth day of the pilots' agitation, the national airline has clubbed Delhi-Paris-Delhi flights with Paris-New York-Paris until tomorrow. Similarly, it has merged Delhi-Frankfurt-Delhi flights with Frankfurt-Chicago-Frankfurt flights. "We have merged the international flights as part of the contingency plan that came into effect today. Through the contingency plan, we intend to minimise inconvenience caused to our customers for the past eight days. We expect to normalise the services steadily," an AI official said. Air India also merged Mumbai-London and Mumbai-Shanghai flights with the Delhi-London and Delhi-Shanghai flights. "We are operating these flights with Boeing 777 ER aircraft so that we won't have a problem in accommodating more passengers," the AI official said, While the national airline operated Delhi-Paris-New York (JFK) and Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago flight early yesterday morning, it would operate the Delhi-Shanghai and Delhi-London as per schedule. According to the official, Air India has deployed Airbus 320 aircraft on short haul flights to Bangkok, Singapore and other destinations. Meanwhile, the two member-bench of Delhi High Court — comprising justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Rajiv Shakdher — reserved its order on an IPG challenging the May 9 order of a single judge restraining them from continuing their "illegal strike". The single judge had ordered IPG pilots against reporting "sick" and staging demonstrations outside the airline's offices in Delhi and other places. In its petition, the IPG stated that the Delhi high Court lacked jurisdiction on the issue as IGP's office was in Mumbai and that it had no authority to pass such an order. Cracks appeared among the striking Air India pilots on Wednesday as some of them returned to work and the management said it expected more to follow. The Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), however, denied this, saying their strike was very much on. "Three pilots who had reported sick have reported back. We expect many more to join work and after that we can start our discussions with them," an Air India official said. The civil aviation ministry made it clear no talks would be held while the protest was on. "No one is ready to talk to them until they return to work. All options including that of reinstating the sacked pilots is also on the table, but nothing is certain. If better sense prevails, then we could see the end of the strike very soon," said the official.