By IANS,
Mumbai/New Delhi : Normal flight operations of Jet airways will resume Sunday after the airline’s pilots decided late Saturday to end their five day old agitation following successful talks with the management, the airline said.
Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal said in a press statement that an amicable agreement has been arrived, effective Sunday. “The airline will operate its full schedule of services on all sectors with all crew reporting for their normal rostered duties,” the statement said
Addressing the media after taking the decision, the president of the National Aviators Guild Girish Kaushik said the dispute has been solved and the pilots would return to work.
“An amicable settlement has been reached. It was like a misunderstanding ina family,” he said.
Domestic flights are expected to begin normal operations by Sunday afternoon while international flight operations have been restored immediately.
The management has also agreed to reinstate the sacked pilots. The airline will form a committee which would look into the problems of the pilots.
The two sides had held negotiations for over eight hours in New Delhi earlier Friday in the presence of Chief Labour Commissioner S.K. Mukhopadhyay. But neither side gave up its stand.
During the five-day impasse, 1,058 flights were cancelled, causing inconvenience to thousands of passengers, especially during the first two days of the agitation — when the pilots started reporting “sick”.
The airline management had also moved the Bombay High Court, which passed an order Wednesday, restraining the pilots from resorting to any form of agitation. Subsequently, the airline also filed a contempt petition, slated to be heard Monday.
The government sought to intervene in a limited manner when Home Secretary G.K. Pillai asked the states to examine if they can invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act.