Earlier this month, Air India issued show cause notices to the Pilot-in-Command and four crew members of the flight and derostered them pending investigation.
Air India has overcome the legal hurdle to slash the number of its cabin crew on board as the apex court has dismissed a petition filed by Air India Cabin Crew Association challenging the national carrier's decision.A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhan dismissed the petition saying that the association had been consulted before working out such an arrangement.
Thirteen of these crew members have 'tendered an unconditional apology and blamed the union for misleading them', the airline said in a statement in New Delhi.
Air India flights, particularly those destined to Europe, are likely to be affected as the major cabin crew union has threatened to start 'work-to-rule' agitation from midnight to protest the management's alleged failure in resolving wage and career related issues.
The All India Cabin Crew Association, which claims to represent the 3,600 cabin crew members in the national carrier, however, disfavoured resorting to industrial action. "Air India is on its way to recovery and the summer holiday season is just ahead.
Both parties will discuss the issues and there will be a meeting again on May 28, he said.
Air India has given a two-fold increase in the salaries of its executive (officer grade) cabin crew to Rs 2.25-lakh, with retrospective effect from June 1, 1997. The move is likely to put an additional burden of Rs 170 crore (Rs 1.7 billion) annually at a time when the airlines are making losses due to economic slowdown.
The sources said that during the boarding, the male passenger behaved in an unruly manner and touched the female cabin crew member inappropriately.
There were nearly 4,000 cabin crew with Jet when the airline was grounded; every fifth remains without a job to date. One cabin crew member with 10 years of experience has been forced to take up a teaching job; some have branched out into small businesses. Aviation jobs were scarce even before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived on Indian shores in early 2020. The situation has been exacerbated since.
The All India Cabin Crew Association, claiming to represent 2,500 cabin crew of Air India, said: "While we bear Capt Gustav Baldauf no ill-will at all, it is tragic that the airline that was built by one of the world's legendary aviators, Bharat Ratna J R D Tata, must today be saved by a foreigner, whose only link to India seems to be Jet Airways."
The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Bombay High Court order restraining Air India from taking more than 12 cabin crew per jumbo jet in an international flight. \n
Air India is set to enhance its in-flight service with a change in ownership from Thursday. This will include more variety in on-board meals, improved in-flight service procedures, and reintroduction of amenities. Non-vegetarian meals are being introduced in the economy class of domestic flights after a gap of nearly four years. Air India is set to enhance its in-flight service with a change in ownership from Thursday. This will include more variety in on-board meals, improved in-flight service procedures, and reintroduction of amenities.
According to the revised policy, guests should not be permitted to drink alcohol unless served by the cabin crew and that the cabin crew be attentive to identifying guests that might be consuming their own alcohol.
'During our recent rescue flights, the protective equipment being provided to the flight crew has been failing with an alarming frequency or has been plagued with other issues'
The company has dismissed 194 cabin crew and 11 pilots over past year for unauthorised absence and such reasons.
Tata Group-owned Air India CEO Campbell Wilson on Saturday apologised for a flyer urinating on a fellow female passenger on a flight from New York in November, and said four cabin crew and a pilot have been de-rostered and the airline is reviewing policy of serving alcohol on flights.
Citing various aspects, the forum has appealed to the DGCA to "withdraw the harsh punishment and suspension of the PIC". it said.
Two unions representing Air India pilots have asked members not to accept the revised compensation and employment offer, calling the company's proposals "unfair labour practices." They said any coercion on pilots to sign the offer would lead to industrial unrest. The Tata group airline announced on Monday a new salary structure for pilots and cabin crew.
Air India chief Campbell Wilson on Friday said that a majority of pilots have accepted the new compensation package offered last week, amid protests by Air India pilots' unions against the revised salary structure and service conditions. The loss-making airline, which was taken over from the government by the Tata Group in January 2022, has announced a new compensation package for pilots and cabin crew. In his weekly message to Air India staff on Friday, Campbell said the airline is making investments in workplace technology and training as well as in new and improved employee benefits.
The new owners of Air India will have to retain all the employees of the national carrier for at least one year post which they can offer a VRS. The gratuity, pension fund and post retirement medical benefits of existing and past employees too would be honoured by the new owner, civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal said. Tata Sons has emerged as the winning bidder for Air India with the government accepting its Rs 18,000 crore offer to acquire 100 per cent of the debt-laden state-run carrier.
AI also working on proposal to trim pilots' pay 15-20%
Air India has given more time to pilots to accept the revised compensation structure, which has been opposed by two pilot unions, according to a source. The decision to provide more time to pilots who are yet to sign the new contracts also comes days after Air India organised a town hall meeting with many pilots to discuss their concerns. The source said the airline has given time till the end of this week for signing the new contracts apparently due to requests from people who had not earlier accepted the revised compensation structure.
In its petition, the association alleged that the procedure followed by the Union Government for the merger was not proper and was illegal. A new company, National Aviation Company of India Ltd was incorporated in March this year as promoter of the new brand and the merger would take two years to become effective.
An Air India pilots' grouping has raised fatigue concerns in the wake of flight crew rosters generated using a new rostering tool, saying that extended waiting periods between duty time will jeopardise crew alertness and performance. "Extended waiting periods, occurring before active flight duties, run counter to enhancing crew readiness and, in fact, contribute to the accumulation of fatigue over time," the Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) has said. In a letter to Air India head of safety Henry Donohoe last week, IPG said it has been recently observed that the relentless pursuit of operational efficiency and economic gains has led to an unintended overshadowing of the primary intent behind Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) regulations.
Air India pilots, who are up in arms against the airline's management's decision to unilaterally alter their salary structure and services conditions, on Tuesday sought Ratan Tata's intervention in resolving the issue. In a petition, signed by a little over 1,500 Air India pilots, the community alleged that the "pilots' concerns are not being heard or addressed by the current HR team". On April 17, Air India rolled out a revamped compensation structure for its pilots and cabin crew, which has since been rejected by the two pilot unions - Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) - on the grounds that the airline, in alleged violation of the labour practices, did not consult them before finalising the new contracts.
At her witty best, the television actress-turned-politician also said that thanks to that rejection, she got a job at McDonald's and the "rest is history".
They alleged that while the salaries and perks of other employees are paid in full albeit with a delay, the same for the pilots and cabin crew are ignored
The Bombay High Court has directed four office-bearers of the Aviation Industry Employees' Guild to resume duties by July 7, in a move that supports Air India's drive against absenteeism.
"Unless he tenders an unconditional apology to AI employees, and undertakes in writing to abide by the Chicago and Tokyo Conventions & Rules of the Air and follow all cabin safety and public behaviour norms, we must not let him on board," says the letter.
Lufthansa has terminated the services of 103 India-based flight attendants after they allegedly sought "job assurance" from the management while the German airlines group had offered them leave without pay option for two years, sources close to the developments said.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has released a draft procedure that calls for testing pilots, other aviation personnel and crew members for psychoactive substances before they take to the skies. The Indian civil aviation regulator has sought comments from stakeholders over the next 30 days before issuing a regulation to this effect. Asking airlines and airports to do random checks on crew and air traffic controllers, DGCA proposed that violators be suspended for a minimum of three years or their licence be permanently cancelled as maximum punishment.
The ban on Gaikwad was revoked last Friday after a letter from the ministry of civil aviation "advised" it to do so.
Public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) has moved the Insolvency appellate tribunal NCLAT against the approval of bids for defunct airline Jet Airways. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench has issued a notice over the PNB's petition along with its interim plea seeking a stay over the execution of the resolution plan. A three-member bench has directed the Resolution Professional of Jet Airways along with other parties including the Committee of Creditors to file a reply within two weeks and rejoinder, if by PNB, within one week.
With passengers flying Indian skies getting more and more unruly, day by day, airlines are forced to stock rope and handcuffs on board and use them as they did the other day on a Dubai-Delhi flight.
DGCA's move seeks to ban perfumes for pilots as they have alcohol and can affect the results of breathanalyser tests. But the FAA and EASA have different standards, says senior journalist Shobha John.
An airline official said the ban is with immediate effect and is in addition to the 30-day ban it had imposed on the individual earlier.
A pilot's body on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh has no locus to pass an order asking Air India pilots and cabin crew to put in more flying hours by changing the flight duty time limitations (FDTL).
Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said it has issued a show cause notice to Air India regarding two incidents of passenger misbehaviour onboard a flight from Paris to New Delhi last month.
'The unity among Israelis is such that the killing of the many Israelis is like a personal loss.' 'They feel as if they have lost someone from their own family. The whole of Israel is sad.'
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