Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said the striking pilots of Air India should call off their strike at the earliest if they are interested in saving the airline.
"The sooner the pilots call off the strike, the better are the chances of saving Air India," Omar told reporters on the sidelines of a function at Budgam, 14 kms from Srinagar.
The Chief Minister said taxpayers’ money is being spent to bail out the Air India, "but the pilots seem not to care about it."
"Why do Air India pilots object to Indian Airlines pilots getting training in new planes? This is a joke with the taxpayers," he said.
The Chief Minister said that one could understand the pilots taking the agitational path if they had some genuine demands to be met.
Earlier, Omar had slammed the striking pilots, saying the cancellation of flights by Air India due to their stir will not help the carrier in dealing with its troubles.
"Excellent, well done, Air India. This is just the way you drag yourself out of the hole you find yourself in, cancel more flights," Omar said in a sarcastic tweet on the cancellations of flights.
About 100 Air India pilots have not joined duty since last night, leading to cancellation of international flights.
The pilots refused to join duty following the failure of talks with the Air India management over the rescheduling of Boeing 787 Dreamliner training.
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