Thursday, September 10, 2009 MUMBAI: Jet Airways (India) Ltd. said Thursday it canceled 91 flights, including 21 to overseas destinations, as a standoff between pilots and the airline management entered its third day.The standoff began with pilots taking sick leave to protest the sacking of two of their colleagues in July. Two more pilots were sacked by the airline management Wednesday.The total number of the protesting pilots touched 432 Wednesday out of 760 in the airline.The protesting pilots are part of a recently formed National Aviators Guild, which claims to represent more than 650 pilots.The standoff, which Jet calls a "simulated strike," forced Jet to cancel 174 flights Wednesday to destinations including Bangkok, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong. Also, the airline shifted half its 14,000 domestic passengers to other carriers.Jet said the pilots went on sick leave despite a continuing conciliation process with the management.The Bombay High Court Tuesday issued a restraining order preventing the pilots from going on sick leave after Jet moved an application in the court.Jet said the court Wednesday issued a contempt notice to the National Aviators Guild for not complying with the earlier order.Sam Thomas, general secretary of the guild, said the pilots are willing to meet the management but will end their protest only after the sacked pilots are reinstated.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in
Comments