At least 37 domestic and international flights of Air India were delayed on Thursday, after contract workers belonging to airline’s subsidiary company went on a flash strike at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here since Wednesday night.
“Due to a sudden industrial situation at Mumbai by Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) employees, some flights have got delayed. We are assessing the situation and all efforts are being made to minimise delays or disruption,” an AI spokesperson said earlier in the day.
In an effort to mitigate the situation, the airline management summoned permanent employees from their homes to normalise the flight operations, especially the early morning departures from here which had been delayed by more than two hours.
Sources in the national carrier said that till around 4 pm, as many as 37 flights – both domestic and international – were delayed. There was no information about further flight delays later in the evening.
The trouble began after the contractual ground staff of AIATSL, a subsidiary of Air India, resorted to a flash strike on Wednesday night demanding Diwali ex-gratia and also reinstatement of some sacked employees.
The AIATSL provides ground handling services to Air India across airports in the country. It has about 5,000 employees, including those on contract. The sources pegged the number of contractual workers who had gone on a strike at the Mumbai airport, at little over 1,000.
Earlier in the morning, one of the angry passengers stranded at the Mumbai airport Sumanto Dey@dey sumanto tweeted: “@MoCA_GoI @airindiain @narendramodi it's shameful for the government to run AirIndia anymore. Passengers stranded in Mumbai airport due to strike!!!!! Strike in Airline services...that too sudden! Serious threat!!!
“#airindia the call centre has no clue and confirms that the IA625 scheduled to depart at 8.25am is on time at 9.10 am! What a joke!!!! This is how a business in service industry is not to be run. #shamefulairindia @MoCA_GoI @narendramodi @airindiain,” Dey tweeted.
Another stranded passenger Anand Sivakumaran tweeted: “#AirIndia Why did I book this fatichar airline. 676 from Kol to Mum delayed by 3 hrs. No announcement. No staff. Just an SMS five minutes before departure time. And with news of the strike in Mumbai wish someone would tell us if this bloody flight will take off or not”.