Air India pilots decide to end two-month strike

Hundreds of state-run Air India pilots agreed Tuesday to call off their nearly two-month strike after the airline management said it would consider their grievances "sympathetically". More than 400 pilots went on strike in May to protest at former Indian Airlines pilots, who moved to Air India when the carriers merged in 2007, being trained for new Boeing 787 Dreamliner planes. The strikers said their career prospects were under threat. On Tuesday, the pilots told the High Court in New Delhi, which had earlier ruled their action illegal, that they would resume work in the next 48 hours. Air India, meanwhile, said it would "sympathetically consider" their grievances, including the reinstatement of those pilots who were sacked as a consequence of the strike. "We are very happy with the proceedings in the court," Rohit Kapahi, spokesman for the Indian Pilots Guild, told AFP. "The process of calling off our strike has started." The stoppage disrupted the airline's international operations, although domestic routes were largely unaffected. In April, the government had cleared a $5.75 billion bailout package to help the cash-strapped carrier which has debts of $8.3 billion.