Beginning of end

The move by some pilots to abandon the IPG’s agitation comes four days after the A-I management began issuing suspension orders to pilots who refused to fly without a certificate stating that none among the crew had flown to SARS affected countries in the last 10 days. 45 pilots have been suspended so far. Of them, 12 have been chargesheeted.

A-I had filed a caveat with Mumbai and Delhi high courts in a pre-emptive bid to prevent striking pilots from challenging disciplinary action taken by the company. IPG president Capt Kenneth Khan was given a suspension notice today. ‘‘Capt Khan was issued with a suspension notice last night for refusing to operate the Boeing 747 flight out of London last week,’’ A-I sources said.

A-I operations have begun limping back to normalcy two days after the airline launched its contingency flight schedule. Flight 615/5585/5584 on the Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai-Jeddah-Mumbai sector was operated today with a Boeing 747-200 aircraft.

This was one of the flights cancelled as per the contingency flight schedule. Three more flights on the Mumbai-Bahrain-Doha-Mumbai sector, Mumbai-Bangalore-Dubai-Mumbai sector and Mumbai-Kozhikode-Dubai-Mumbai sector will be operated on May 1. Plans are underway to operate two more flights every day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sectors and schedules are currently being finalised for it. As more and more unionised pilots ignore the IPG directive and report for duty, Air-India will gradually reinstate more flights, the spokesman added.

The airline is considering hiring pilots of Indian origin, who have worked with foreign airlines but are currently laid off, on short term contracts. ‘‘We are looking for Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A310 pilots of Indian origin in the Far East who have been laid off due to the present turmoil, and to hire them for two-three months only after necessary approvals from their respective airlines,’’ he said.

The airline is also planning to expedite training of pilots. The airline plans to send them to aircraft manufacturers’ facilities so that they can be inducted by May-end for flying duties instead of a month later.

Meanwhile, A-I cancelled two of its services from Kochi’s international airport following the strike by a section of the pilots. The flights are Dubai-Kochi-Abu Dhabi-Muscat and the Kochi-Abu Dhabi-Muscat flights, A-I sources said.