Several privately owned Indian airlines have called off a plan to stop operations for a day on 18 August to lobby for government aid.
The Federation of Indian Airlines, a lobby group made up of the country's airlines, says that it decided to call of the strike "in view of the agitated public sentiment and potential inconvenience to thousands of passengers on the one hand, and the government's willingness to enter into dialogue on the other". It adds that it hoped "constructive dialogue with government will lead to a redressal of the problems faced by the aviation industry".
On 31 July, the airlines led by Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways said that they would suspend their operations for one day if the government did not agree to bringing down the tax on jet fuel and reduce airport charges.
Over the weekend, however, MDLR Airlines, Paramount Airways, SpiceJet, and Indigo all said that they would continue to have flights on 18 August. State-owned Air India, which is a member of the association, said that it would not participate and added that it would operate additional services on that day if necessary. That left only Jet and Kingfisher, and they too have decided to call off the action.
Civil aviation minister Praful Patel said while understood the airline industry's difficulties, but added: "The government does not support any move that will inconvenience the travelling public of the country. We advise the airlines to engage in a dialogue with the Government."
He added that the individual states imposed the tax on aviation fuel, and added that his ministry had been appealing to them "for the last few years to see reason". The other grievances were related to slowdown in the global economy global and domestic and the impact of high price of aviation fuel in the last fiscal year, he said.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
