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Air India to hire more pilots: Ajit Singh | Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh on Wednesday said that the Air
India management is planning to hire around 90 more pilots over the next six months,
not only for its international operations, but also for its domestic flights.
Addressing a press conference on issues facing Air India , Singh said: "There
are plans to train more pilots and hire more pilots for the domestic flights."
He further said the airline would also start new routes to Hong Kong, Seoul and
Osaka in August. Commenting on the pilots who are on strike, Singh said: "It seems
pilots have decided not to come back, they have condemned the Dharmadhikari report,
which is part of turnaround plan. If they reject that, no point in their coming
back." "Our stand from Day One has been, that it has been declared illegal by
the High Court, they haven't even followed union rules of giving notice of strike.
I have said in Parliament there will be no victimisation, but they are not willing,"
he said. "If they want to come back, they are welcome but there are no pre-conditions,"
he added. Singh had earlier announced a new pay and career progression norms for
employees of erstwhile Indian Airlines and Air India to ensure parity in the merged
national carrier. Presenting the Justice C.S. Dharmadhikari Committee report on
the problems arising out of the merger of national carriers, Singh had said after
the committee's recommendations are implemented, pay scales, work hours, promotions
for Air India and Indian Airlines will be similar. "The committee will also look
into anomalies in pay scales and a uniform policy on working hours. The new promotions
policy will give fair chance to pilots from Indian Airlines and Air India in terms
of career progression," he added. The Dharmadhikari Committee, which submitted
its report on January 31 has made recommendations on crucial issues like principles
of integration across various cadres, seniority and principles of pay rationalisation
of the two erstwhile state-run airlines, issues that have been at the centre of
the strike called by the Air India pilots. The ongoing pilots' agitation has resulted
in cancellation of several flights of the ailing airline, including many international
ones, causing passenger inconvenience and a loss of over Rs.200 crore to the exchequer.
About 500 Air India pilots who fly international routes have been demanding that
their colleagues from Indian Airlines should not be trained to fly Dreamliners,
as they believe it may hurt the career prospects of original Air India staff.
Both companies were merged in 2007, but there have been problems with the integration
since then. A central auditor also criticized Air India 's purchase of Dreamliners
last year for "imposing an undue long-term financial burden."
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