Kingfisher leases out planes to stricken AI

New Delhi: Air India's domestic services remained virtually grounded on Saturday as the pilots' strike entered the fourth day. Barely 10% of the 320 daily domestic and short-haul international flights, operated by the erstwhile Indian Airlines , operated, leaving thousands of flyers stranded.
The pilots' agitation received "a shot in the arm" on Saturday when UPA ally Trinamool Congress extended its support. "The government can talk to people from across the border... AI is the foundation of civil aviation in India. Thinking of privatizing or declaring a lock-out or even moving court is not a solution. The management has to understand that the pilots are their own people and not outsiders. Every pilot loves AI. The solution is very easy: talk to your own people. I can guarantee that if spoken to with respect, which everyone deserves, a solution can be reached in a matter of a few hours," Trinamool MP and minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi said.
With the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), supported by the management pilots, striking work and the management refusing to budge from its stand, AI had to take two aircraft from Kingfisher on wet lease and operate them on the Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Patna-Varanasi-Delhi sectors. However, the airline said the arrangement was on a transfer-of-passenger agreement.
The earlier plan of taking 25 to 26 sets of pilots from Kingfisher to fly AI's domestic planes, as both operate Airbus A-320 planes, did not, however, materialize.
01/04/11 Times of India

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Categories: Air India May 2011, Kingfisher May 2011