The Delhi High Court Wednesday restrained over 200 agitating Air India pilots from continuing their illegal strike, reporting sick and staging demonstrations. The strike began yesterday after the airlines management sacked 10 pilots and derecognised their union.

The pilots, under the banner of Indian Pilots Guild, IPG are agitating over the rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training and matters relating to their career progression.

Justice Reva Khetrapal issued notice to IPG and asked to reply to a plea of Air India management seeking court's intervention and also a restraint order against the striking pilots. The judge also said allowing such strike to continue will cause irreparable loss to the company as well as huge inconvenience to the passengers travelling by the national carrier. The court has fixed July 13 as the next date of hearing.

Meanwhile, Air India management Wednesday suspended 10 more pilots. Air India spokesperson told AIR that international flights are operating normally except a flight from Delhi to Frankfurt was cancelled Wednesday . He said the airline has put in place a contingency plan with the available pilots.

Earlier, government called the strike by Air India pilots illegal as no prior notice was given. Talking to reporters outside Parliament in New Delhi, Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said the pilots should immediately call off their strike and apologize for the inconvenince caused to passengers. He said the government is ready to talk to the pilots if they have grievences. He, however, said that discussions and disruptions cannot take place at the same time.