Union Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain recently held out an olive branch on one hand, a cosh on the other to agitating pilots of Air India. That meant he was trying to meet as many of their demands as possible, but beyond a point he was not ready for any conciliation. In the midst of this balancing game, INDIA TODAY's Sayantan Chakravarty caught up with him for an exclusive interview.

Q: Nearly 45 pilots have been suspended by Air India over the past week. The airlines cancelled flights and put people in great difficulty. Could this crisis have been averted?
A: I can assure you that as a minister I have tried to offer the pilots the hand of friendship more than anything else. After all the pilots are a part of our system, we don't want to be harsh on them, we want to strengthen their hands. But because of their indiscipline, reporting sick for work deliberately, the national carrier was brought to disrepute. But we made sure that flights to the US, UK and the European continent were not cancelled. We had contingency plans in place.

Q: How many flights did Air India have to cancel?
A: Air India has 115 flights a week to Hong Kong, Bangkok/Tokyo, Singapore, Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi/Muscat, Bahrain/Doha, and to Saudi Arabia. Post-agitation only 58 such flights were operating. We increased the Indian Airlines flights to these destinations.

Q. What kind of demands did you agree to initially?
A: The Iraq War was technically over by April 8. Yet on that day the Indian Pilots' Guild said that its members would not fly to Kuwait, fearing possibly that Iraq might attack the airport there. We agreed. Then they said they would not fly back and forth to Hong Kong and Singapore. We agreed. But then the hidden agenda came to the fore.

Q: What hidden agenda?
A: They said that they would not fly with any cabin crew or cockpit crew who had flown to Singapore or Hong Kong in the past 10 days. This was absurd. The World Health Organisation had not issued any directive declaring these places as medically unsafe from the SARS point of view. Neither the IATA nor the ICAO had called for the banning of flights to these destinations. Yet, the Air India pilots, decided to set their own rules, browbeating everyone.

Q: Why did you find the demands unreasonable?
A: Because the IATA confirmed that not a single crew member of any other international airline refused to fly to Hong Kong or Singapore on account of SARS. It is another matter that some airlines curtailed their operations to these destinations due to poor traffic.

Q. Did you give the pilots a chance for a conciliation?
A: Yes, I asked the civil aviation secretary to breach protocol and fly down to Mumbai to talk to the pilots. But still the pilots showed no signs of softening their stand.

Q. You mentioned in Parliament that they are a pampered lot ...
A: Yes, I did. When I mentioned that most pilots earn between Rs 4 to 6 lakh per month, even the Opposition leaders thought that stern action should be taken against them for holding thousands of passengers to ransom, and for bringing the national flagship carrier to disrepute.

Q. According to Air India officials, pilots are provided airconditioned vehicles to reach the airport from their homes. They are housed in five star hotels when they fly to other countries, and stay in hotels different from cabin crew...
A: Yes, true. Even pilots in British Airways and Air France come to the airport on their own. But Air India pilots need official vehicles.

Q. They have also demanded special compensation for training for CAT III instrumentation landing system...
A: Yes. Firstly, the average pilot earns about $ 100 per flying hour and he logs in about 60 hours a month. Now the IPG wants an increase in $ 35 per flying hour. It also wants an monthly allowance of Rs 70,000 for training for the CAT III system that is lying unused by Air India in Delhi.

Q: You have tried to balance things out. Yet the IPG always believes in taking the road to confrontation. Isn't it so?
A: Well, my job as minister is to first make everyone in the civil aviation ministry work peacefully. I am not here to punish people, but this should not be seen as a weakness. When harsh administration is due, it will happen. As for the IPG, it has disrupted work, gone on strike, raised unreasonable demands on 43 occasions since 1974. I don't want to say anything more.