Govt bid to call pilots bluff: we will hire afresh

"They (striking pilots) have decided not to come back. They have condemned the Dharmadhikari report (on pay parity), which is part of the turnaround plan. If they don't accept the report, I don't think there is any point in their coming back," Singh said while unveiling the new business plan for the airline.

He said these pilots could apply afresh when the airline advertises vacancies for pilots. This will come as little comfort to the pilots given that they will carry the tag of being disruptors.

The new business plan aims at expanding the carrier's international operations, including new flights to Malaysia and Australia starting August. The airline is banking on the five Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, which are likely to join its fleet soon, to expand operations. Initially, these aircraft would be deployed on domestic routes for two months before they are operated on the Mumbai-London route in August, and in the Australia sector from September 2012 onwards.

"New planes are coming. We are making sure that resources are in place," Singh said in response to queries on recruitment of new pilots. A bulk of the 100 pilots proposed to be inducted would be co-pilots, and the rest commanders, Air India CMD Rohit Nandan said. "For expats, it would be a one-year contract and for domestic pilots a five-year contract," Nandan said. He said 90 trainee pilots too would be ready to fly in another six months.

According to the new plan, the airline would deploy narrow-body Airbus 319s, operated by pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines, to Hong Kong from July 2012, and extend the service to Seoul and Osaka from August 2012. These destinations were discontinued after the pilots struck work on May 8.

The striking pilots appealed to the CMD to resume the dialogue to end the month-long impasse.

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