Jet takes disciplinary action against 5 more pilots

Jet Airways on Wednesday took disciplinary action against five more pilots after they went on mass sick leave to protest sacking of their two senior colleagues, airline sources said.

The airline has taken disciplinary action against a total of eight pilots since the strike began on Tuesday. However, Jet Airways spokesperson was not available for comment.

A meeting is likely between the Jet Airways management and the pilots union in an effort to end the deadlock arising out of the agitation by the pilots.

Chairman Naresh Goyal and National Aviators Guild President Capt.Girish Kaushik are likely to hold talks on the issue of pilots going on leave, Jet Airways pilots union sources said.

The time and the venue of the meeting are still to be worked out, they said.

Currently, a meeting of the management is underway to discuss the issue.

The pilots had called for a strike on August 7 demanding reinstatement of the two sacked colleagues. The matter was then referred to the Regional Labour Commissioner for consideration.

The Commissioner called a conciliatory meeting on August 31 advising both Jet Airways and pilots to adhere to the Industrial Dispute Act of 1947. Jet cannot terminate the services of any pilot and the pilot cannot go on a strike as long as the matter was under conciliation, the RLC had said at that time.

The pilots withdrew their strike call on September 7 but went on mass sick leave to protest the sacking.

Jet Airways on Wednesday cancelled over 100 domestic and international flights operating out of various cities with the strike by its pilots continuing for the second day.

Most of the morning flights of the airlines remained cancelled.

"However, the airline's operations to Europe, the United Kingdom and North American would be as scheduled," a Jet Airways spokesperson said in a statement.

Air India has, meanwhile, come to the rescue of the Indian cricket team scheduled to go to Colombo on Wednesday by a Jet Airways flight for the tri-nation one-day series there.

Air India will fly a special plane to carry the Indian cricket team to Colombo. The plane will take off from Chennai and go to Bangalore to take Indian captain M S Dhoni and leg spinner Harbhajan Singh before finally leaving for the Sri Lankan capital.

In Delhi, about 10 flights remained cancelled causing inconvenience to passengers.

The airline assured passengers of the disrupted flights that they will get full refund of their tickets.

"On the disrupted flights, passengers would get full refund or they could reissue or rebook flights without any penalty," the spokesperson said.

The airline is also trying to accommodate passengers of Jet Airways in its low-cost arm Jetlite.

About 12 Jet Airways flights were cancelled and combined with the Jetlite flights.