MUMBAI:
Air India has run into serious trouble again. Eighty-nine of its flight attendants, who were rostered on international flights, refused to fly on Monday, leaving the airline scampering for stand-by cabin crew. The flight attendants have not been paid their salaries for two months and sustenance allowance for five months. The number of flight attendants refusing to fly grew through the day and is expected to grow further. Nine of the 89 protesters joined in around 10pm on Monday. They were rostered on flights scheduled to depart from Delhi early on Tuesday. The number is expected to go up and affect airline operations. Air India spokespersons were not available for comment.Sustenance or subsistence allowance is paid in foreign exchange and goes towards unavoidable expenditures like lunch and dinner when the
cabin crew is on a layover in between flights. "Since August we have been paying from our pockets for expenses incurred in foreign countries,'' said a flight attendant. "We have received zero salary since the last two months. We cannot afford to fly on international flights and pay for our lunch, dinner abroad any longer. We are not flying as we have no money to pay for food abroad,'' another crew member added.The cabin crew on protest are members of All-India Cabin Crew Association and operate Air India international flights to destinations in the US, Europe,
Riyadh and Jeddah in the Middle East. They comprise about 1,200 of the 1,600 cabin crew of erstwhile
Indian Airlines, which operates about 23 international flights a day.
The rest belong to the management cadre. But reports doing rounds among AI flight attendants late in the evening was that quite a few from the management cadre crew too have refused to fly. If the airline does not make peace, the coming days are likely to see flight cancellations and delays.
