AI serves showcause notice to 3 pilots; flights delayed

New Delhi, Sep 5 (PTI) Nearly a dozen flights of AirIndia were delayed for up to two hours today as a section ofpilots continued their protest for the second day over paymentand other issues even as the airline served showcause noticeto three commanders for alleged dereliction of duty. Seeking to resolve the issues raised by the pilots owingallegiance to Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA),Air India is expected to hold parleys with them tomorrow evenas airline chief Ashwani Lohani warned of "exemplarydisciplinary action" against agitating employees. Sources said around 5-10 flights were delayed by half-an-hour to two hours today as more than 70 pilots opted fortheir "weekly off" impacting services in the domestic network. At the same time, Air India has issued showcause noticesto three pilots for not turning up for duty on Sunday, theyadded. Air India spokesperson was not available for comments. Earlier in the day, Lohani warned of "exemplarydisciplinary action" against employees "sabotaging" theprogress of the national carrier. In a stern message to employees, he said such acts atthis juncture when the airline is looking to achieve aturnaround are "just not acceptable" and shall not betolerated under any circumstances. Recently, there have been delays/cancellations of flightsdue to indiscipline by a small section of pilots. Such acts,not only result in revenue loss but also cause inconvenienceto passengers, he said. Sources said Air India’s Director of Operations hascalled for a meeting tomorrow with ICPA representatives todiscuss their grievances. They, however, said ICPA — which represents around 750pilots of narrow-body planes — is unlikely to soften itsstances on their pending issues for which they are demandingresolution at the earliest. "If there are no definite time-bound assurance onresolving the issues by tomorrow evening, then the situationmight turn worse," one of the sources said. Another source said ICPA is seeking the intervention ofLohani to resolve the issues. On Sunday, domestic flight services were partiallyaffected a section of ICPA members decided not to report forduty in protest against pending issues related to salary andallowances, besides alleged denial of weekly-off. PTI IAS RAMRG