India’s private airlines put on hold no-fly strike on August 18, 2009

The private airlines of India have called off their threat to suspend domestic flights on August 18, 2009. The airlines, including such majors as Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways, will “put on hold” their plan for a no-fly strike scheduled for August 18, 2009, owing to “public opposition” as well as the Indian government’s offer to hold talks, a statement from the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA).

A statement issued by the private carrier GoAir on behalf of the Federation of Indian Airlines said that the organisation has decided to “put on hold” its decision to suspend flights on August 18, 2009, in view of “the agitated public sentiment, the potential inconvenience to passengers, as well as the government’s willingness to hold a dialogue.”

The airline sector in India, according to the Federation of Indian Airlines, suffered combined losses of as much as 100 billion rupees ($2 billion) in the year ended March 31, 2009.

The private airlines had announced the strike to press their demand for financial help from the government in view of the global economic recession and the resultant slowdown in demand for air travel.

They demand that the government reduce taxes on aviation turbine fuel and also cut charges levied by the government-owned Airports Authority of India in order lessen their losses.

Praful Patel, India’s Minister for Aviation, had on July 31, 2009, offered to hold talks with the private airlines and had urged them not to resort to a strike that would inconvenience air travellers immensely.

Air India, the government-owned flag-carrier of India, had sought a bailout package form the government after its revenues dipped, leading to a delay in paying salaries to its 31,000 employees.

Air India had geared itself up to deal with a possible suspension of flights by the private airlines by planning to fly extra services with its Boeing B-747 Jumbo aircraft on August 18.

In addition, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) – the agency that is responsible for implementing, controlling, and supervising airworthiness standards, safety operations, and crew training in India – had issued a strict warning to the private airlines not to violate the provisions of the permit that lets them operate scheduled flights.

The DGCA also had ordered the airlines to return fares to passengers within 48 hours if they planned to go ahead with suspending flights on August 18, 2009.

Following this warning, it was the budget carrier IndiGo that first called off the decision to suspend flights, followed by SpiceJet, another low-cost airline. It may be noted IndiGo and SpiceJet combined accounts for one-fourth of India’s domestic air traffic.