Pilots' protest disrupts Air India services

State-owned Air India said several flights were disrupted yesterday after some senior pilots reported sick in protest against a decision by the airline to slash productivity bonuses.

The protest by the non-unionised executive pilots, classified as airline management, comes as India's biggest religious festival season of the year gets under way.

"Every effort is being made to maintain normalcy even as a handful of pilots have reported sick mostly at Delhi," the airline said in a statement.

The money-losing carrier, which has a 16 per cent market share, has announced plans to cut productivity incentives by 25 per cent for those pilots receiving bonuses of up to Rs10,000 (Dh765.42).

The cut, part of efforts by the airline to reduce costs and so qualify for a government bailout, will be 50 per cent for those receiving productivity incentives of Rs200,000 or more a month.

The statement came after the protesting executive pilots' representative, Captain VK Bhalla, said late on Friday: "The executive pilots have taken a decision to go on strike because nobody is in a state of mind to work due to the salary cuts."

The Air India protest comes two weeks after a mass pilot "sick-in" at India's second-largest carrier Jet Airways threw the nation's air travel into chaos for five days. Jet Airways pilots were protesting against the dismissal of colleagues who started a union.

Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.