New Delhi: With 180 Air India pilots
continuing their agitation for the fourth day, the government
on Tuesday requested other airlines to accommodate the passengers
already booked on the national carrier whose flights are being
cancelled.
Civil Aviation Secretary M Madhavan Nambiar held a
meeting with senior officials of all the private airlines to
work out an alternate plan to ease inconvenience of the
passengers who are booked on the cancelled flights.
"We have asked the private airlines to provide smooth
passenger facilitation and also not to escalate fares so that
passengers face minimal inconvenience," Nambiar told reporters
after the meeting.
He reached out to the private airlines as 180 Air
India pilots continued to abstain from duty, reporting "sick",
to protest against cut in perks. The agitation resulted in
cancellation of 46 flights today, mostly in Delhi and Mumbai.
Nambiar said a mechanism has been put in place to
monitor that airlines don`t escalate ticket prices. He also
asked the airport operators to provide necessary facilities to
the passengers.
The Civil Aviation Secretary expressed hope that the
deadlock would soon end.
Asked whether there were any plans to invoke the
Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against agitating
pilots, he replied in the negative.
Bureau Report
