After pilots at Air India Ltd. expressed concerns last week about being overworked and underpaid, the company is facing increasing difficulties as aircraft technicians are preparing to go on strike later this month.
In response to multiple issues affecting their “well-being” and “professional growth,” technicians at AI Engineering Services Ltd., a state-run maintenance, repair, and overhaul company that was formerly an Air India unit, have voted to go on strike on April 23. The All India Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Union sent the chief executive officer a letter on April 8 detailing these issues.
Once IndiGo, Air India, and Akasa placed orders for more than 1,100 aircraft collectively, pilots and aircraft engineers became increasingly important to sustain the nation’s rapid fleet development.
The aviation sector in India, which suffered hundreds of flight cancellations last week owing to exhaustion and wage cuts among certain pilots at Vistara—a joint venture between Tata Group, the owner of Air India, and Singapore Airlines Ltd.—will be further disrupted by the strike. To prevent further cancellations, the airline is reducing its daily flight schedule from 25 to 30 in order to establish a buffer in its rosters.
According to the letter, the company’s 75% contractual labor feels discriminated against because they are not granted the same benefits as permanent employees and must serve longer notice periods.
