New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS): Air India pilots have demanded that pilots who have tested positive for Covid-19 be given their monthly base flying allowance.

In a letter to the Air India Chairman and Managing Director, the Indian Pilots Guild and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) have said that hardships are being faced by the pilots due to the impact of Covid-19, specifically on their flying allowance.

With air traffic approaching pre-Covid levels, other airlines are rolling back the temporary austerity measures for their pilots. Against this backdrop, it is all the more unfair to deny Covid positive pilots their monthly base flying allowance, the pilots said.

Due to the chaos created by the ongoing pandemic, there is a delay in processing various renewals by external agencies, be it flying licence, medical recency, Airport Entry Pass (AEP) etc. "The individual pilot or the company for that matter has no control over this as we are at the mercy of external agencies," they said.

All employees of Air India are eligible for leaves. "Denying pilots their monthly base flying allowance for proceeding on approved leave is a violation of service regulations and creates another disparity between flying and non-flying employees of Air India," they said in the letter.

"While the employees from other departments who have tested positive for Covid-19 are availing approved leaves and are being paid their emoluments in full, the company is simultaneously denying monthly base flying allowance, which forms a substantial part of our gross emoluments. It is unfair and discriminatory in nature," the pilots said.

The pilots have asked the Air India CMD to put a stop to this discrimination by paying minimum monthly fleet average/base average from the month of October 2020 to pilots who are directly and indirectly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.