National carrier Air India was on Thursday struggling to restore normal operations after a two-day wildcat strike by 15,000 employees and said it would take another two days for flight schedules to get regular.
“There were a few cancellations from New Delhi and Kolkata this morning, but as far as Mumbai was concerned, we have been able to operate all our flights as usual,” an Air India spokesperson said in Mumbai.
“Two early morning flights to Ahmadabad could also not be operated. But they had minimal load, which was transferred to other flights operating from the international terminal.”
The strike, the airline said, had led to over 100 flight cancellations and a loss of Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million/$2.5 million) for the carrier, even as 13,000 passengers were inconvenienced.
The strike was finally called off after the Delhi High Court restrained the unions – protesting what they said was a management gag order on them against speaking to the media – from proceeding with their agitation till July 13.
The unions, however, have decided to take up the matter with Chief Labour Commissioner SK Mukhopadhyay, who was mediating on behalf of the two sides and had assured that there would be no victimization.
The sudden strike had further dented the image of the national carrier that had come under a cloud because of reports of poor safety standards in the light of the Mangalore air crash and overall deterioration in services due to accumulated losses that topped $2.5 billion.
