The two recognized pilots' unions of Air India were on Wednesday locked in a battle over the rights to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. A day after the airline management bowed to pressure from pilots of the erstwhile Air India, and postponed the training schedule of pilots for the Boeing 787 till the month-end, it was the turn of pilots of the erstwhile Indian Airlines to flex their muscles. AI and IA were separate entities till a few years ago, when they were merged. The pre-merger unions continue to be valid.

The management was to send the first batch of pilots drawn from the erstwhile carriers to train on the Boeing 787, when pilots from the erstwhile Air India (owing allegiance to the Indian Pilots Guild, or IPG) objected to the inclusion of pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

On Wednesday, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA, of the erstwhile IA) sent a letter to the AI chairman with the threat of mass resignation and sought a no-objection certificate to quit the airline. "There are 850 erstwhile Indian Airlines pilots who are demanding an NOC from management and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) if there is no career progression and parity implemented this month (sic)," the letter said.

The ICPA has only 650 members; the extra 200 pilots mentioned in the letter are not union members. In effect, the letter says, the entire lot of IA pilots will resign if AI agreed to the IPG's demands.

Last week, the 300-member IPG threatened to go on strike over the training issue. Along with the threat of strike, the IPG also claimed that nearly 100 pilots were planning to quit Air India and would seek an NOC to move on to other airlines. The IPG has also filed a case in the Bombay HC challenging the management's decision to deploy pilots from both sides in a ratio of 1:1. The IPG's contention is that till the time the management does not formulate a comprehensive career progression plan for all pilots-in consultation with both unions-only erstwhile AI pilots should be sent for Boeing 787 training.