Pilots play cabin crew role to tackle crisis

New Delhi: Recently, when the cabin crew of British Airways went on a strike, the management asked the pilots to double up as cabin crew. The decision comes in the backdrop of the airline reporting a loss of £401 million in 2009 against a record profit of around £880 million the previous year. The loss is said to have been the biggest deficit since the privatisation of the airline in 1987, and largely on account of the £3-billion fuel bill. The Indian aviation industry is also no stranger to taking such action so that its travellers are not inconvenienced due to industrial action. In the mid-1980s the erstwhile Air India hired ground crew and staff from ITDC hotels to act as cabin crew after its staff decided to go on an agitation.
Recently, several airlines in including Jet Airways and Kingfisher redeployed ground staff to cut costs.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says that labour problems have emerged as a major challenge for global airline industry.
27/06/10 Mamuni Das/Ashwini Phadnis/Business Line

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Categories: Foreign Jun 2010, Indian Aviation- In General Jun 2010