In a bid to avert a strike by pilots of Indian Airlines (IA), the aviation minister has agreed to postpone phasing out of IA's IC code and having a common AI code for all flights of national carrier Air India. The code change was supposed to occur in mid-February.
Pilot’s union Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) threatened to take "any action" if the issue of pay parity with their AI counterparts wasn't resolved.
Aviation minister Vayalar Ravi reassured union members that the code change will be deferred for some time so that a solution could be found to the problem in the interim.
"Merger of IA and AI happened about four years ago but there has been little progress on pay parity, a must to give a feeling that people work for the same company. Vayalar Ravi told pilots that he will meet employees and understand the issues involved to reach some decision in a fortnight.
However, having a common AI code for all flights of a national carrier is a vital requirement for joining Star Alliance.