NEW DELHI: Air India pilots have threatened to stop working if they are not vaccinated immediately on priority, stating that they were in no position to continue risking their lives and their families’.
“With no health care support to the flying crew, no insurance, and a massive opportunistic pay cut, we are in no position to continue risking the lives of our pilots without vaccination. Our finances are already spread thin covering our bedridden colleagues and provisioning for families lest we inadvertently infect them with the deadly virus that is an ever-present occupational hazard for us,” pilot body ICPA said in a letter written to AI management.
It added, “If Air India fails to set up vaccination camps on a Pan India basis for the flying crew above the age of 18 years on priority, we will ‘STOP WORK’.” The pilots also accused the management of only paying lip-service noting that vaccine camps held at a few bases were only for employees doing desk jobs. “Many crew have been diagnosed Covid positive and are struggling to get oxygen cylinders.
We are left to fend for ourselves for hospitalisation,” said their letter. Meanwhile, at least 30 people on board Air India’s Amritsar-Rome flight last Wednesday were found positive for Covid-19 on arrival. At least two of the 30 people are flight crew members.