Mumbai, August 13: Air India has grounded 19 planes due to lack of spare parts, leading to flight cancellations, and causing a huge loss to the revenue on a daily basis, according to a Business Today report. The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) quoted in the report said, in a letter to Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola, that almost 23 per cent of the Air India fleet is grounded for lack of spares.

The debt-ridden Air India has again failed to disburse the salaries of their employees on time for the fifth consecutive month. The people working for the national carrier are yet to receive their payment for the month of July. Angry over the organisation for defaulting on salary, General Secretary of Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) captain Deepankar Gupta penned a letter to the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India and said, "It is disheartening to note that the salary has yet again been delayed for the fifth consecutive month. Despite confirmation and assurance from you, the management has failed to even intimate the employees regarding the delay of salary and flying allowance." Air India has sought an equity infusion of Rs 2,121 crore from the government as part of an ongoing bailout package.

The other players in the aviation industry have been going through a rough time. The report of Jet Airways employees forced to take a pay cut up to 25 percent, and stake sell claims have been doing the rounds for quite some time. InterGlobe Aviation Ltd, the operator of IndiGo airline, posted its biggest-ever drop in quarterly profit due to the rising jet fuel prices and a foreign exchange loss.

(With inputs from ANI)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 13, 2018 10:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).