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flights had been cancelled due to a strike by pilots and announced a
suspension of new bookings. Nine out of 21 international flights and
37 out of 177 domestic flights were scrapped, spokesman Jitender
Bhargava said, after pilots in three major cities called in sick for
the fourth day after talks to end the dispute broke down. "We have
stopped taking bookings temporarily till mid-October," Bhargava told
AFP. "This is to make sure inconvenience to passengers is avoided
and we have surety of flights operating." Overnight talks between the
company and the non-unionised senior pilots, who are protesting a
slash in performance-based incentive pay, failed to make headway with
about 180 pilots reporting sick on Tuesday, Bhargava said. An
earlier statement by Air India said the pilots' refusal to accept
bonus cuts was "unacceptable" and that "all options are being kept
open." But chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav told
reporters there was no chance of a lockout and urged pilots who had
called in sick to "come back quickly and restore normalcy for the
benefit of the passengers."
