Erstwhile Indian cabin crew wants pay hike

New Delhi: Cabin crew of the erstwhile Indian (Airlines) are now demanding higher allowances from merged state-owned airline Air India for flying on international routes that the erstwhile Air India international carrier would fly on. The demand was made recently following the launch of a Mumbai-London flight on May 16 using an a leased aircraft of the erstwhile Indian (Airlines).
The demand was raised then as this meant that cabin crew of the erstwhile Indian would be flying with the aircraft to London. Air India has meanwhile assured that the concerns of "different sections of employees" will be addressed, something that is "natural during a merger". Erstwhile domestic carrier Indian and international carrier Air India were merged into a giant unified carrier named Air India last year.
The higher allowances were demanded since the Flight Time Limitation for flight cabin crew travelling on domestic and neighbouring countries are lower than for international flights. For instance, as per current norms, no airline can schedule a cabin crew member to work for more than eight hours of flight time for domestic and neighbouring country routes and for 11 hours of flight time on international routes in 24 consecutive hours. The cabin crew of the erstwhile Indian were getting their allowances on the basis of a bilateral agreement signed years ago with the management of Indian.
Both the Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) (which has cabin crew of the erstwhile Indian as its members) and the Mumbai-based All India Cabin Crew Association (which also claims a large membership of cabin crew) say that a new bilateral agreement for these cabin crew is necessary since the flight time of the flight started on May 16 from Mumbai to London is more than nine hours.
When contacted, an Air India spokesperson confirmed that discussions for higher allowances were on between the management and the cabin crew of the erstwhile Indian.
20/05/08 Sridhar Kumaraswami/Howrah News Service

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Categories: Air India Domestic May 2008