Rs 500cr loan for AI to pay dues

Mumbai: The Air India pilots' strike planned for November 24 may not take place as the airline has managed to procure a loan of Rs 500 crore as working capital, which will go towards payment of delayed allowance and incentives to its employees.
If the strike had taken place, it would have affected the domestic flights operated by Air India. "The airline has got Rs 500 crore as working capital loan from the SBI," said an airline spokesperson, adding that the pending dues would be paid by November 10 as promised by the airline. Pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines had threatened to go on a strike from November 24 if their flying allowances and productivity-linked incentives pending since the last few months were not cleared by November 10.
"All employees, including pilots, should understand the difficult times the industry is going through. As far as salary payment of expatriates is concerned, there is no disparity between salaries of Indian and expatriate pilots. Since the expatriate pilots are on contract, they have to be paid on time," the spokesperson added.
Last month, the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association, the recognised union of the erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots had threatened to go on "non- cooperation" from November 1 if the pending allowances were not paid by then.
04/11/09 Manju V/Times of India

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Categories: Air India Domestic Nov 2009, NACIL Nov 2009