It has been more than a month since the Air India Pilots are on strike. With the strike, things have now become serious for the already ailing airline. Apart from the airline the consequences have to be faced by the passengers also due to the rising air fares, especially for the flights to the Gulf.
Even the stakeholders are not at all happy with the constant strike. The pilots are now anxious as there are reports that the management might sack all the 300 of the pilots who are on strike. The management and the government is now worried about Air India’s mounting losses.
Due to the never ending strike of the pilots, the airline is forced to shut down the operations and is operating only 38 of the 43 services it normally flies globally. So in turn it has pushed up the fares on most of the International destinations.
The Travel associations have observed that the Mumbai-Dubai ticket which earlier used to cost between Rs. 12,000-15,000 now costs up to Rs. 25,000. Even a Mumbai-London flight which used to cost between Rs. 33,000-40,000 now costs between Rs. 55,000-56,000. Bijji Eapen, the national president of IATA says, “After Air India’s cancellation, we can see that prices have gone up to more than double. This is the peak season and it has affected around 45-55% of the industry”. Moreover, it has also been pointed out that the increase in the service tax levied by the government.