NEW DELHI: Deccan Aviation Ltd and SpiceJet Ltd, India’s biggest budget carriers, said they gained passenger bookings as about 12,000 workers of Indian Airlines Ltd went on strike for a second day.

Almost two-thirds of state-run Indian Air’s workforce have walked off the job to win higher pay and promotions, ignoring a government threat of punishment and a court order that termed the strike illegal, said Ashok Sharma, an airline spokesman. The carrier canceled some flights and changed timings of others.

The strike, the second in the past month, has persuaded passengers to shun the state airline in favor of newer rivals. The strife will dent public goodwill and further erode Indian Air’s market share, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said yesterday after threatening action against the workers.

“Strikes are not good, but at the same time passengers need alternatives and we have benefited,” said Ajay Singh, director of New Delhi-based SpiceJet, the country’s second- largest budget airline.

Indian Air has lost market share to carriers such as Jet Airways (India) Ltd and Sahara Airlines Ltd since 1993, when the government first allowed private companies to start aviation services in the country.

More Competition

Bangalore, India-based Deccan last year overtook the state carrier as the nation’s second-biggest passenger airline by total number of passengers flown, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. As many as seven new companies have started flights in India in the past three years.

Indian Airlines has canceled and delayed flights as cabin baggage handlers and support staff have not come to work.

“We have registered a 10 per cent increase in bookings on the Mumbai-Kolkata route and in the North east due to the strike,” said Vijaya Menon, a spokeswoman of Deccan Aviation, which runs the Air Deccan low-fare airline, the country’s largest budget carrier.

SpiceJet registered as much as 7 percent increase in bookings since the beginning of the strike, Singh said.

India’s government, wanting to merge the carrier with state-owned Air India Ltd., has asked the workers to call off their agitation before any talks on demands for higher wages and promotions.

The airline, which flies under the name Indian, canceled 62 of its daily total of 320 flights yesterday. Many others got delayed, Sharma said.

The Delhi High Court said the strike was illegal in an order late last night, the airline said in an advertisement. The government has threatened to take “action” against the workers if the agitation isn’t called off.

Striking workers will meet soon to consider the court order, said Arun Kumar, a member of the Air Corporation Employees Union, the biggest of the airline’s seven unions.

“The strike will cause distress to a large number of passengers, apart form being detrimental to the financial condition and image of the company,” the civil aviation ministry said in a statement late last night.
source: The Economic Times

Viewed: 235 views | Rating: (1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
 Loading ...