Fourth day of AI pilots strike: Passengers stranded at airports
The strike by Air India pilots has entered into its fourth day. The national airline has incurred a loss of Rs 26.5 crore far, with 280 flights being cancelled in the last three days. Those who had bought tickets in advance are regretting doing so.
EVERY STRANDED passenger at airports in India who was supposed to take the national carrier Air India flight is asking one serious question - why should he suffer for no fault of his? Air India has one of the largest fleets, which consist of some 165 aircrafts including Boeing 747and Airbus 320 and fly on all domestic routes of the nation. After the major trunk routes such as Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Lucknow, Delhi-Bengaluru, Delhi-Hyderabad, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar were opened, private airlines such as the Jet airways, Kingfisher, Spice Jet, Indi Go, Jetlite, etc., are throving on these routes. The national airline started experiencing losses following a shift in choices of passengers who started opting for these private airlines as they were providing better facilities, and many at lower cost as compared to the prices of Air India. The competition that came out the private operators on the above mentioned profitable routes resulted in heavy losses to Air India, which continued to operate on many routes, which were not profitable following low density of air traffic. The last time Air India posted a profit was in the year 2005-2006 when it had passed the mark of some 75 crore. Since then there has been only decline in the services and profits of this national carrier. The management had set a deadline for 5 p.m. yesterday for all the pilots to resume their duty, but this was ignored. The pilot's strike, which has entered its third day today, has also seen a sharp jump in the prices of air tickets on all important routes. When more than 300 flights are still cancelled, the fares have also shown a jump following high demand for tickets. The ticket for Mumbai-Delhi, which was for around 4,000, is now selling at around 12,000 to 14,000. Similarly, for Delhi Chennai ticket, one has to shell out some 24,000 while for Kolkata it is 10,000. This is making a hole in the pocket of commuters who are struck at the airport and there is no one to bail them out. They are even not getting information as to when their flight will finally take off? Despite court orders the pilots association is in no mood to surrender and the management has already threatened that they would be giving the names of the pilots to the court if they do not return to their duty.
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It is better that the government give it to some private company. The ministry of civil aviation should behave like a watch dog and better they hand over planes to private companies so that customers get better services. Time has come when govt. should work as a regulatory body or observer.We are facing so problem with this strike.It is nonsense.Pilots not bowing to even court orders.
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