Capt VK Bhalla, representative of the protesting Air India pilots, said they have decided to withdraw the strike following assurances given by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
Air India executive pilots called off their agitation on Wednesday after getting an assurance from the state-run carrier that their arrears and allowances for August and September would be paid this month.
Air India spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava said the national carrier would resume normal operations from Thursday morning as all pilots return to work.
The five-day stalemate in talks between Air India’s senior pilots and the management over a cut in productivity-linked incentives (PLI) ended after government intervention.
On Wednesday, by the time the pilots announced their decision to withdraw their protest, the national flag carrier had cancelled 34 flights — 30 domestic and four international. The airline opened bookings on all sectors immediately after the pilots called off the strike.
Captain VK Bhalla, a senior executive pilot leading the strike, said they were ending their strike on an assurance from civil aviation minister Praful Patel that “there will be no salary cuts”. He said the pilots have received an official communication in this regard.
Bhalla said now that the pilots’ issue has been resolved, they would “fully cooperate with the management”. He apologised for the inconvenience caused to passengers due to the strike.
Even as Bhalla announced the end of the strike, there was confusion till late afternoon on whether all senior pilots backed him.
A senior Air India official said pilots would be put through a fitness test before they begin flying.
“The pilots will be available for flying from midnight (Wednesday) and all early morning flights will operational,” he said.
On Wednesday, Air India issued an order keeping in abeyance the controversial September 24 directive on the PLI cut till a board sub-committee comprising three members, including Air India chief managing director Arvind Jadhav examined all issues and submitted its recommendations.
The airline lost over Rs100 crore during the five-stay strike which saw over 180 pilots reporting sick and leading to the cancellation of 128 flights.
Except two non-stop flights it operates daily to the United States, Air India (AI) started the operation of other international flights from midnight.
AI said it will operate long-haul flights from October 1. AI operates two non-stop flights to the US daily — Mumbai-New York and Delhi-New York. “The effective date of resumption of non-stop flights from Delhi and Mumbai to New York will be taken once executive pilots, who had reported sick, start reporting fit for duty,” an AI spokesperson said.
The flights that will operate from October 1 include AI 127 Delhi-Frankfurt-Chicago, AI 191 Mumbai-Frankfurt-Newark, AI 131 Mumbai-London, AI 111 Delhi-London sector, AI 187 Amritsar-London-Toronto and AI 121Ahmedabad-Frankfurt.
On domestic routes, Air India is operating flights to Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bangalore. “AI has drawn up a flight restoration plan, ensuring normal operations on trunk routes with immediate effect, and major and other routes will be restored at the earliest, keeping in view that Thursday will mark the beginning of a long weekend,” he said.
“Passengers have started enquiring about AI flights since the airline reopened its central reservation system on Wednesday,” said a spokesperson of Raja Rani Travels, Mahim.
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