300 Jet pilots go on strike; govt explores invoking ESMA

Mumbai,Jet’s operational hub,was the worst-hit as nearly 130 domestic and some international flights were cancelled,followed by about 20 from Delhi,besides Kolkata,Chennai,Hyderabad and Kochi. The airline operates 380 flights,including 80 international ones,everyday.

A large number of passengers who were booked on Jet were accommodated in flights of Air India and other carriers. As the pilots reported sick en masse,the private carrier termed the failure of the pilots to return to work as illegal and an attempt to “sabotage the operations”.

Meanwhile,the Bombay High Court passed an order restraining the airways’ pilots’ union from continuing their strike. The order was passed by a bench of Chief Justice Swantanter Kumar and Justice A M Khanwilkar on a petition by the airlines.

The court also issued notice to the union National Aviator’s Guild (NAG) and sought a reply within two weeks. The airline had submitted that under the Industrial Disputes Act,going on strike while conciliation proceedings were underway was prohibited.

Jet CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said that all possible efforts were being made to save passengers from inconvenience and restore normalcy.

While Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal met Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar and briefed him on the situation,Home Secretary G K Pillai wrote to Chief Secretaries of all states to review the situation with regard to the private airline’s pilots reporting sick en masse.

“The State Chief Secretaries have been asked,in consultation with their respective Home Secretaries and Labour Secretaries,to see whether there is a necessity to invoke the provisions of the ESMA to ensure restoration of services so that general public is not put to inconvenience,” an official spokesperson said.

The airline sent doctors to the homes of about 24 striking pilots and co-pilots in different cities who reported sick. Jet sources said most of them were found fit and asked to resume duty immediately. It termed their action as a “simulated strike by reporting sick”.

“This organised activity is a planned sabotage of operations that will damage the airline’s operations and inconvenience the travelling public,” it said.

The airline also sought the intervention of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to resolve the crisis in accordance with the laid down guidelines,known as Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs).

The relevant CARs state that any act on the part of pilots which could lead to last minute cancellation of flights and harassment of passengers “would be treated as an act against public interest”.

While the NAG had last night decided to call off its strike against the sacking of two senior pilots — Capt Sam Thomas and Capt Balaraman– for forming the Guild,its members decided an alternate course by going en mass sick leave.

Maintaining that the NAG just wanted reinstatement of the two pilots,Guild President Captain Girish Kaushik said the Jet management had agreed to the demand on the condition that NAG is dissolved. “They want us to dissolve the Guild,which I feel is not fair,” he told reporters in Mumbai.

Meanwhile,Jet CEO when asked what action the management would take against the striking pilots and if the two sacked pilots would be reinstated,he said “the matter is on in the Labour Commission and we would not like to comment.”

The Civil Ministry,taking passengers’ inconvenience into consideration,has asked the airlines to set up Control Offices at their headquarters,bases,offices and airports.

It has also said that full refund mechanism be put in place without any deduction at the passengers’ request and amenities to minimise their inconvenience be taken care of.