The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association has written a letter to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri requesting Centre to allow them to quit the passenger carrier without serving their notice periods.

A copy of the letter was also marked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior Union Ministers.

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The letter comes after Puri made statements in the Parliament saying, ‘if Air India is not privatised by March 31, 2020, the airline will be shut down as “a matter of concern”.

“With this uncertainty over the survival of our national carrier and with no ‘Plan B’, we request you to ensure that we are not treated like bonded labour and allow us to quit Air India without serving the notice period and clear all our dues immediately,” the letter stated.

It further added, “it is unfair for the Government of India to keep us bonded with the notice period while we are not being paid on time and our dues are not cleared.”

Currently, around 800 pilots are members of the Union. As per the letter, 65 pilots have already tendered their resignations and are serving the six-month notice period which is due for completion “very soon”.

“Most of these pilots are experienced ‘CAT 3 B’ qualified co-pilots and are potential commanders. We are losing these experienced co-pilots to other air carriers who value them and have understood the importance of their experience and are willing to recruit them by paying the bond money amounting to tens of lakhs of rupees.”

“Experienced commanders are also waiting to join other air carriers on completion of their respective notice period,” the letter said.

The Union also highlighted the issue of their delayed payments, insufficient allowance and others. They claimed that they have never received salaries and flying allowances on time in the last 2-3 years. At present, flying allowance constitutes of 70 per cent of pilots’ pay package.

“We are facing severe financial constraints due to delay in flying allowance… We humbly request you to clear our legitimate dues without any further delay as stated by you as our patience is running thin and we are in no position to continue working with uncertainty looming large over Air India”.

“We do not want to face the same fate as other employees of 21 private carriers that have shut down and further add to the rising unemployment in India. We hope the Government of India will be sensitive towards our concerns and ensure our livelihood is not affected,” the letter said.

(With input from agencies)