A flash strike by over 300 pilots on Tuesday, in protest against the sacking of two of their senior colleagues, crippled domestic and global operations of Jet Airways.
The strike forced Jet Airways to cancel almost 200 flights even as the Bombay High Court passed a restraining order against the agitators and the government explored the possibility of invoking Essential Services Maintenance Act (Esma) to restore the services.
A large number of passengers who were booked on Jet were accommodated in flights of Air India and other carriers. As the pilots reported sick en-masse, the private carrier termed the failure of the pilots to return to work as illegal and an attempt to “sabotage the operations”. Jet CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said all possible efforts were being made to save passengers from inconvenience and restore normalcy. When asked what action the management would take against the striking pilots and if the two sacked pilots would be reinstated, Prock-Schauer said “the matter is on in the Labour Commission and we would not like to comment.”
Meanwhile, the airline sought the intervention of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to resolve the crisis in accordance with the laid down guidelines, known as civil aviation requirements (CARs).
The relevant CARs state that any act on the part of pilots which could lead to last minute cancellation of flights and harassment of passengers “would be treated as an act against public interest”.
Hit by the disruption in almost half of their flight schedules affecting almost 13,000 passengers, Jet management asked the pilots to come to the negotiating table. Mumbai, Jet’s operational hub, was the worst-hit as nearly 130 domestic and some international flights were cancelled, followed by about 20 from Delhi, besides Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi . The airline operates 380 flights, including 80 international ones, everyday.
Source: The Financial Express
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