Air India suspends booking of tickets, cancels morning flights

AIRINDIA-JADHAV

New Delhi, Sep 29 (PTI) Air India has suspended booking of
tickets till further notice and decided to cancel a majority
of its morning flights to cut down inconvenience caused to
passengers by last minute cancellations in view of the ongoing
agitation by the executive pilots.
"We have suspended the booking of tickets till further
notice in order to save the passengers from inconvenience
caused by the cancellations of flights due to the agitation,"
Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav told
reporters here Tuesday.
The airline has also decided to cancel a majority of its
morning flights, he said.
The national carrier is trying to normalise its operations
after a section pilots started reporting "sick" in protest
against the 50 per cent cut in their productivity-linked
incentives and payment of flying allowance.
On the number of pilots who have reported sick in the last
three days, Jadhav said "a total of 180 executive pilots --
109 of erstwhile Indian Airlines and 71 of erstwhile
international carrier Air India -- have reported sick."
The cash-strapped national carrier is incurring losses of
around Rs 12 crore daily due to cancellation of flights and
fall in the number of bookings.
"The number of bookings have gone down from 32,000 to
14,000 per day and we are incurring losses of 30 per cent of
out total revenue of Rs 40 crore everyday," Jadhav said.
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