Even as harried passengers anxiously await the outcome of the tussle between Jet Airways pilots’ union, the National Aviation Guild (NAG), and management, the inconvenience looks set to spill into the third day, with the airline cancelling 66 flights in anticipation.
More pilots called in sick on Wednesday, in violation of the Bombay high court’s order restraining them from going on strike, while the court issued a contempt notice to the pilots asking why action should not be initiated against them.
Though the agitation gathered steam, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal refused to give in to pressure, saying he would engage in talks with the union leaders only after pilots resumed work. “They are behaving like terrorists. They cannot hold the country, the passengers and the airline hostage. We won’t tolerate such blackmail. I am open to meeting and talking to the pilots but they cannot harass the passengers,” he said, adding that he would fire more pilots if they did not report to work.
But there seems to be no letting up on the protest. On Wednesday, 432 pilots had stayed away from work compared to 361 pilots on Tuesday. The standoff forced 249 flights off the runway — 223 domestic and 26 international — leaving around 14,000 passengers scrambling to get accommodated on other airlines.
However, Jet said it was better prepared to handle the situation on day two of the protest as it accommodated stranded passengers on its low-cost subsidiary JetLite as well as other airlines. In a hurriedly-called press conference on Wednesday morning, which was addressed by chief operating officer (COO) Hamid Ali, Jet said it was able accommodate 80% of its passenger on other airlines.
In a bid to arrive at a resolution, Goyal had met the civil aviation minister Praful Patel and pilots but failed to sort out the matter. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s intervention also did not end the impasse.
When asked why they were asking the pilots to dismantle the union, Ali said that there were certain rules in every organisation that must be adhered to. The pilots, however, remained adamant on their demand for the reinstatement of the pilots who were fired for their association with the guild. Captain Sam Thomas, one of the two pilots sacked by Jet and general secretary of NAG, said, “We gave them (Jet management) 40 days to resolve the issue but they refused to recognise us as a union. We want the terminated pilots back.” He also added that they were expecting five to six more termination letters.
He categorically stated that under no circumstance would they allow disbanding of the union. “We won’t dissolve the union. It’s our constitutional right,” he said. Meanwhile, Girish Kaushik, president of NAG, claimed some of cabin crew of the airlines and other trade bodies had extended support to the guild.
