The protest by executive pilots failed to have any major impact on operations of Air India on the first day of the stir even as around 20 protesting executive pilots reported sick for duty leading to cancellation of 13 domestic and international flights.

The striking pilots displayed a lack of coordination while differences emerged with the existing pilot union, Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), sources said. Yet the stir may gain momentum if other employee unions join in. A clear picture will emerge after their Sunday meeting.

“While additional Air India aircraft were pressed into service today, we have kept Boeing 747 on the standby. We carried around 31,000 domestic passengers on Friday, with a load factor of 88 per cent,” said Jitender Bhargav, executive director, National Aviation Company of India Limited (Nacil). The international operations of the airline remained largely unaffected today, the company insisted. Refusing to divulge the losses incurred by the company on account of the stir, Bhargav said CMD Arvind Jadhav would meet the executive pilots on Sunday.

The executive pilots seems to have found conditional support from the pilots’ union, ICPA, which is believed to have told them that they would support only if they resign from their executive/managerial positions and join the ranks of line pilots, making them eligible to join the union. Line pilots are junior pilots who have not been affected by PLI-cut decision of the Air India management. The ICPA is a union of the non-executive pilots, of erstwhile Indian Airlines, recognised by the airline.

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