Pilot refuses to follow AI economy class diktat

Mumbai: Air India (AI) recently asked its pilots to travel in economy class instead of business class.
On Monday, AI 801 Mumbai-Jeddah flight was delayed by more than an hour as one of the three pilots refused to travel in the economy class. DGCA rules make it mandatory for three pilots to fly on this route, a source said.
"While the two fly the plane, the third is kept as a back-up. He/she travels in the business class," he said.
"This pilot said he would not fly the plane if had to travel in economy class," the source said. It took almost an hour to resolve the issue. "The management told him that he could travel in the cockpit if he did not want to travel in the economy class," he said.
The airline spokesperson said, "The flight took off at 10.15am. The pilot travelled in the cockpit."
On May 21, AI sent a circular asking all its employees, staff-on-duty or staff-on-leave, to travel in the economy class instead of business class. In AI, staff above senior managerial level travel in business class. But this decision, aimed at minimising costs, has not gone down well with pilots who feel travelling in the economy class would leave them tired.
26/05/09 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: NACIL May 2009