Air India may shut down operations from midnight

New Delhi, Sep.28 (ANI): With the ongoing talks between the Air India management and the striking pilots showing no break through till Monday evening, the AI authorities are likely to shut down its operations for a few days from midnight.

The possibility of a shut down is not ruled out. Air India likely to consider shutdown operations from midnight, a Times Now report quoted AI sources as saying on Monday evening.

Air India is also mulling the option of taking a strict action against the rebel pilots, which could be mass sacking of the pilots, the report further stated.

The dead-locked negotiations are likely to cause a setback to passengers who were to travel by Air India.

Earlier, Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav met, Captain V K Bhalla, the main representative of the striking pilots, here to end the deadlock between the Air India management and the agitating pilots. But with both the sides remaining adamant and refusing to budge on stated positions, the talks failed.

"The talks have ended in a stalemate as the management refused to give a positive reply over the payment of our due salary and withdrawal of PLI-cut order," Captain Bhalla said.

Earlier in the day, the pilots' strike entered its third day, causing considerable discomfort to passengers across the country.

Passengers faced last minute cancellations of their flights, leading to an upheaval in their personal and work schedules.

Passengers have been thronging the Air India counter at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport to enquire about their flights.

"We kept on calling them to ask about the flight schedule. If they had told us yesterday itself, we would have cancelled the flight and made arrangements on some other flight. They kept on telling us, the flight was scheduled. But today, it was cancelled. This is not done. Now, we are in great difficulty and are trying to get on some other flight," said Shilpi, a passenger.

Passengers in Mumbai also faced a similar situation, as they had a torturous time due to the cancellation of their flights.

"We were planning to go, they said. The flight was delayed due to some reason," said Kumar, another passenger.

Striking pilots have refused to get back to work until the controversial pay-cut order is completely withdrawn.

A total of 12 flights were cancelled today. Out of these, ten are domestic and two are international.

The Air India management on Sunday also agreed to set up a committee to look into the Productivity-Linked Incentives (PLI) modalities.

In another development, pilots in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata agreed not to go on strike.

Striking pilots in Chennai and Kolkata have also agreed to the committee set up by the management. (ANI)