India's Jet Airways strike cancels flights for 5th day

A "sick leave" strike by pilots at India's second-largest airline, Jet Airways, forced cancellation of flights for a fifth day Saturday after talks to end the wildcat work stoppage ended without a deal.

"We have cancelled 281 flights for the day. Of these, 260 are domestic and 21 international," an airline spokesman said. The private carrier operates 365 domestic and 74 international flights daily.

Thousands of Jet customers have been forced to change their travel plans since the strike began Tuesday causing one of the biggest aviation disruptions in India in recent years.

The two sides held Friday a first set of talks called by the country's chief labour commissioner in New Delhi that concluded after nine hours without agreement.

"The discussions are inconclusive. Everything is inconclusive," Saroj Datta, executive director of Jet Airways, told reporters after the meeting.

Talks were expected to resume late Saturday in Mumbai at the airline's headquarters.

More than 430 pilots -- over half the airline's 760-pilot roster -- have reported sick since Tuesday in what the company called a "simulated strike" triggered by the sacking of two pilots for setting up a union.

Money-losing Jet, which flies to London, New York, Toronto, Singapore and other international destinations as well as to most Indian cities, has also fired two other pilots for alleged discipline breaches.

The union says the two other pilots were dismissed for their union involvement.

The pilots are demanding reinstatement of their colleagues to end the strike that media reports say is costing the airline owned by Indian tycoon Naresh Goyal eight million dollars a day.

"The management has agreed to take back the pilots, but the meeting was not quite conclusive," Girish Kaushik, president of the newly formed National Aviators Guild, said late Friday.

The Press Trust of India quoted Kaushik as saying he was "hopeful" that an agreement could soon be reached.

Indian media reports said Jet management wanted the union disbanded or restrictions imposed on its ability to disrupt flights.

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