Air India averts turbulence as plane technicians call of Tuesday strike: Report

Another strike could have derailed several flights across the country, which could have pushed ticket prices further higher

India’s aviation sector averted travel chaos amid the country’s summer travel season as the workers at AI Engineering Services called off their planned strike, a Bloomberg News report said on April 22.

AI Engineering Services is a government-run repair and maintenance company and has domestic carrier Air India as its top client. The company said the strike has been cancelled after the management agreed to some of their demands. The strike was planned for April 23.

The staff of the maintenance company demanded revision in the workers’ salary and career progression opportunities as they claimed that the workers have not received any promotion in the past seven years, according to the report. Moreover, contractual workers, who form 75 percent of the company, complained of discriminatory work structure. They said their notice periods are longer compared to the permanent staff, apart from reduced employment benefits.

Another strike could have derailed several flights across the country, which could have pushed ticket prices further higher. In early April, the Tata-backed Vistara faced severe disruptions after its pilots decided to go on mass leave to protest tight schedule and salary reductions. The protest led to forced cancellation of over 100 flights and several cases of delays because of shortage of crew. Vistara had to cut 25 to 30 flights per day to ease the pressure and brought in bigger aircraft to accommodate more passengers.