Pilot Bodies of Air India Advise Against Accepting Revised Compensation Scheme

Air India’s management recently introduced a new compensation structure for its flight and cockpit crew, which includes a salary hike for over 2,700 pilots across Air India and AIX Connect, including Air Asia India and Air India Express. The revised terms and conditions also offer a higher guaranteed flying allowance of 40 hours, double the previous amount of 20 hours. However, the pilot bodies at Tata Group-owned Air India have urged their members not to sign or accept the changes.

The unions claim that Air India has altered the conditions without consulting the pilots and accused the management of attempting to make all senior pilots executive and eliminate the unions. The two unions released a joint communication to advise their members against accepting the revised terms and conditions.

The company disclosed in an internal circular dated April 17 that they had modified the compensation structure and that the new arrangement would benefit over 5,600 Air India cabin crew members.

Air India

Despite the potential benefits, the pilot bodies are opposed to the revised terms and conditions, which they believe threaten their representation and rights as unions.

The number of hours flown by pilots remained considerably lower in comparison to the pre-pandemic period when Air India guaranteed pilots 70 hours of flying.

On Wednesday, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) unions held a joint meeting on April 18 to discuss the issue. According to a joint communication to their members on Wednesday, the unions’ committees are currently finalizing the further course of action, taking into account the suggestions of their members who expressed their views and anguish on the unfair terms and conditions imposed on them.

The communication also reiterated to all members not to accept or sign the revised terms and conditions in the meantime. Air India was contacted for comment, but there has been no response yet.

According to a source who spoke with PTI, Air India made changes to its policies without consulting its pilots. The source also alleged that the company is attempting to undermine unions by designating all senior pilots as executives.

The new circular will promote a significant number of senior pilots who have served as commanders for at least four years to the senior commander rank. This promotion will grant them immediate inclusion into the management cadre and provide them with an extra allowance for executive responsibilities.

Unions do not allow executive or management pilots to join.

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