Air India suspends contracts of 200 pilots

NEW DELHI: India’s flag carrier Air India has suspended contracts of approximately 200 pilots who were re-employed after retirement, an official in the Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Thursday.

“Since almost all the planes have been grounded and the carrier’s revenues have taken a significant fall during the last few weeks, the airline has decided to temporarily suspend the contract of around 200 pilots who were re-employed after their retirement,” said the official, foreign media reported.

The national carrier has already cut the allowances of all employees, except cabin crew, by 10 per cent for the next three months in order to save money amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The development comes at a time when the airline, which is already reeling under huge losses since many years, has been running special flights during the ongoing lockdown owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

All domestic and international commercial passenger flights have been suspended for this period. However, carriers such as Air India have been permitted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to fly special flights to transport test kits, medicines, relief material and Indians coming from abroad or foreigners going to their countries.