September 29, 2009 3:27 PM

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Air India stops booking till Oct. 15; stalemate continues between Mgmt. & Pilots

Air India has stopped entertaining further bookings as the agitation by the Executive pilots of Air India continued for the fourth day today. The bookings have been put on hold till the 15th of next month. The Chief Managing Director of Air India, Arvind Jadav has asked other airlines to accomodate Air India passengers. He has also asked them not to hike their fares. Mr. Jadav was speaking to reporters after a meeting with representatives of private airlines in New Delhi today. Mr. Jadav also said that the negotiations are going on to break the impasse over the demands of the pilots which includes withdrawal of order on the cut in productivity linked incentives. He also said that the Air India has incurred a loss of 80 crore rupees due to cancellation of several flights due to the agitation . Meanwhile, 37 Air India flights had to be cancelled with more pilots reporting sick. As reported the talks between the management and the striking pilots had failed yesterday to reach any agreement on the grievances with the pilots. The Civil Aviation Secretary Mr. Madhavan Nambiar who held a meeting with the Air India CMD said that the management has not yet taken any decision on the cut in PLI or any other allowances of the employees. He said the decision in this regard will be taken only after examining all aspects by the seven member panel which has been set up to look into the matter. AIR correspondent reports that passegers of Air India are facing a lot of hardship due to cancellations. The authorities are however trying to adjust them on other airlinesIn Kolkata, at least seven flights of Air India have been cancelled today in view of the ongoing agitation of its pilots. A spokesman of the Netaji Subash Chandra Bose International Airport told in Kolkata that efforts are on to maintain the skeleton service. Seven flights which were scheduled to take off for different destinations from Kolkata Airport could not fly. Our Kolkata Correspondent Arijit Chakraborty reports that around 800 passengers who went to Andaman to spend pooja holidays have been stranded. The Minister of State for Shipping, Mr. Mukul Roy said that a special ship of the Shipping Corporation of India will start from Andaman for Kolkata tomorrow to bring the stranded passengers. Meanwhile, Railway Minister Ms. Mamta Banerjee has announced that the Railway will run special trains from Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore to deal with the situation. Ms. Banerjee said in Kolkata that additional coaches will be added with various trains to give relief to the stranded passengers.

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