Civil Aviation Minister Vyalar Ravi has said that the Centre is looking into the demands of Air India pilots who have threatened to go on strike. Talking to reporters in New Delhi today, the Minister said that the management is taking all possible measures to resolve the crisis over the training programme for pilots to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliners which will be inducted in the national carrier.

AIR correspondent reports, some Air India pilots belonging to the Indian Pilots Guild, IPG, are opposing the management's decision to meet the flight crew requirement of Boeing 787 by taking pilots from erstwhile Air India and erstwhile Indian Airlines on one is to one basis.

According the management's decision, half of the 64 slots for training on Boeing 787 Dreamliners are allotted to erstwhile Indian Airlines Pilots and half to erstwhile Air India pilots.

The pilots of erstwhile Air India are however demanding all training slots to be reseved exclusively for them.

They have also written a letter to the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India Rohit Nandan saying that the decision is unfair.

Ten international flights of the Air India Express have been cancelled with more than twenty pilots reporting sick.
An Air India Spokesman however said that a contingency plan is in place and the situation is under control.

He said that flight operations will not be affected and all precautions are being taken to avoid any inconvenience to the passengers.