Medical examination of pilots delays operations

Delhi: If you are still unable to take an Air India flight, blame it on the 'sick' pilots. The pilots' strike might have ended officially on Friday night, but Air India has not been able to resume its full services yet. The reason: Air India sources say, over 200 pilots had reported sick before going on strike.
"If a pilot reports to duty after a sick leave, he/she has to undergo certain medical examinations before given a clearance to fly. So unless these pilots don't get their medical clearance, they can't fly. Hence, the delay in the resumption of the flights," said a senior Air India official.
On Saturday, only eight flights could operate from Delhi airport while on Sunday the number rose up to 25. "More than half of the flights that operate from Delhi are still grounded," said an Air India official. On any given day Air India operates around 60 flights from Delhi alone.
When contacted, Air India spokesperson admitted that one of the reasons behind the delay in restoring the flights was the medical examination of the pilots. "But we hope by Monday, normalcy would be restored," he added.
The national carrier had suffered a loss of over Rs150 crore due to the 10-day strike.
09/05/11 Surender Sharma/MiD DAY

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air India May 2011