The Air India management has reached an agreement with pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines on the contentious issue of pay parity. Fearing another agitation from the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the airline's management has agreed to the union's demands for fixed allowances each month.
Senior airline executives and representatives of the ICPA held a marathon meeting in the national capital which went into the early hours on Thursday before the two parties arrived at an interim settlement.
According to sources, ex-Indian Airlines pilots would now be paid a fixed flying allowance for 72 hours each month. Further, they would get $1,000-1,500 as layover allowance on assignments to fly abroad.
"This is just an interim settlement," a source with the airline said, noting the issue of pay parity was still before the D M Dharmadhikari Committee. This agreement will now be put up for approval before the airline board. AI spokespersons did not respond to the query. ICPA general secretary Rishabh Kapur chose to keep mum. "Nothing yet," he responded to an SMS query.
The decision to enhance pilot allowances will burden the debt-ridden airline, though its exact impact could not be ascertained.
"On the one hand," remarked an aviation expert, "Air India plans to save Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) by stopping hot meals on short-distance flights; on the other, it is giving a
bonanza to pilots."
True, the matter of equal pay in the two government-owned airlines was raised even in the pre-merger days.
Even so, it was only this year that the issue reached flash point. ICPA's main argument is that Air India pilots earn a fixed allowance for 80 hours irrespective of hours flown in a month.
Also the AI pilots get a fixed $1,500-2,000 allowance when flying abroad. In contrast, Indian Airlines pilots are paid only for hours flown.
In May, ICPA members went on strike, demanding parity in pay and allowances with pilots of Air India.
The strike was called off following assurances that the pay parity issue would be resolved in six months. With no solution in sight, ICPA members again threatened agitation. The pilots had threatened protest if their demands were not discussed before November 30.
While, the productivity-linked incentive has not been paid for the past four months, issues relating to pay parity, fixed flying allowance and layover subsistence allowance have also not been settled, ICPA sources said.
Such a situation was prompting a large number of pilots to quit Air India, adding to the woes of the carrier.
ICPA's Kapur recently said the association had been trying to meet civil aviation minister Vayalar Ravi since September, but had failed to get an appointment till date.
"During the last strike, the government had assured us in writing that the issues would be resolved by November. So far, nothing has been done," he had told reporters.
Senior airline executives and representatives of the ICPA held a marathon meeting in the national capital which went into the early hours on Thursday before the two parties arrived at an interim settlement.