Air-India management has given an ultimatum to Indian Pilots Guild to withdraw the directives issued by the latter for operating flights to SARS-affected regions and resume duty till Saturday evening.

"We have developed a contingency plan and will consider disciplinary action against those unionised pilots, who fail to resume their duty," A-I spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava told reporters in Mumbai on Saturday after an hour-long meeting between the civil aviation ministry led by aviation secretary K Roy Paul and IPG members.

The pilots have been refusing to operate flights unless they are provided with a certificate that the accompanying crew had not travelled to SARS affected regions during the past 10 days.

Bhargava said IPG was told in categorical terms that various directives issued by them lacked merit, justification and were totally unreasonable.

These directives should be withdrawn forthwith for restoring normalcy in A-I operations, he added.

"If they withdraw the agitation, the schedule will come back to normal and management will study what could be done further," Bhargava said.