Air India says three days needed to clear backlog after strike

Up to three days would be required to clear a backlog of passengers caused by a strike of ground and maintenance staff, the state-run carrier Air India said on Thursday.

The two-day strike by at least 15,000 employees was called off Wednesday evening after the Delhi High Court gave an order saying the action was illegal.

“It may take up to two and half to three days for Air India to clear the backlog of passengers and return to normal service,” the IANS news agency quoted Air India chairman and managing director Arvind Jadhav as saying.

“Nearly 13,000 passengers were affected due to the strike while 4,000 to 5,000 passengers were stranded, including 600 in Singapore,” Mr. Jhadav said.

More than 140 flights, both domestic and international, were either cancelled or diverted.

Unions called the strike to protest a gag order by management forbidding their leaders from talking to the media over delays in salary payments.

The strike came three days after an Air India flight crashed in the south-western city of Mangalore, killing 158 people.

Soon after the court order Wednesday, the unions called off the strike and asked workers to return to work immediately.

Management, meanwhile, launched a massive crackdown on the unions and several of their leaders were sent letters of termination while others were suspended, a newspaper reported.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the unions had gone a bit too far and management had been given a free hand to deal with them.

The cash-strapped national carrier has been given 168 million dollars by the government as part of a bail-out package so far and is working on a reorganisation plan.

The airline has a workforce of more than 30,000 people, which, analysts said, needs to be cut in half to make Air India competitive.

Although private airlines were expecting to return to profit in the financial year that began April 1, Air India was expected to report large losses in spite of its restructuring plan.