Several flights affected from Mumbai airport after Air India employees go on strike

The contractual ground employees of AIATSL are on a strike at the Mumbai airport since Wednesday night against the non-payment of Diwali bonus, an official said.

In the face of a strike by a section of employees of the Air India's ground handling subsidiary AIATSL, several flights from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) were delayed on Thursday morning. As many as 10 domestic and three international flights were delayed by up to three hours due to the strike, the airline official said, as reported by news agency PTI.

The contractual ground employees of Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) are on a strike at the Mumbai airport since Wednesday night against the non-payment of Diwali bonus, an official said.

Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the national carrier, provides ground handling services to Air India across airports in the country. It has about 5,000 employees, including those on contract.

In a statement to news agency ANI, Air India said that the permanent employees of the airline have been deputed to normalise the flights. It further added that the early morning flights from Mumbai were delayed by two hours.

"Air India's permanent employees have been deputed to normalise the flights. Only early morning flights from Mumbai for delayed by 2 hours," said Air India.

Another official told PTI, "Some AIATSL employees at the Mumbai airport are on strike since Wednesday-Thursday (intervening) night over non-payment of Diwali Bonus, leading to disruption in services. These employees, however, are on contract."

"Till this morning, 10 domestic flights were delayed besides three international ones. The delay was up to three hours," he said.

Air India has pressed into service its permanent employees to handle the ground handling operations at the Mumbai airport, the official said. "Negotiations are going on between the striking employees and the AIATSL management to resolve the issue," he added.

Earlier speaking to ANI, an Air India spokesperson had said that they were assessing the situation and making efforts to minimise the delays or disruption of flights.

"Due to a sudden industrial situation at Mumbai airport by AIATSL employees, some flights have got delayed. We are assessing the situation and all efforts are being made to minimise delays or disruption," said the Air India spokesperson.

A flag carrier airline, Air India has its headquarters in the national capital. The airline is owned by Air India Limited which is a government-owned enterprise. Air India operates a fleet of Airbus and Boeing aircraft.