Mumbai: The labour ministry on Thursday said a pilots’ union at Jet Airways (India) Ltd, India’s largest private airline by passengers carried, could not go on strike as air transport is as a public utility service.

Hard stand: The union said it had served a notice to Jet Airways that its members would go on an indefinite strike from 7 Sep. Abhijit Bhatlekar / Mint

The office of the deputy labour commissioner, central, under the ministry of labour and employment, added that the newly formed National Aviators Guild (NAG) cannot go on strike while conciliation proceedings are in process.

The labour commissioner has called for talks between the union and the airline management on 31 August.

On Monday, NAG said it had served a notice to the Jet Airways management that its members would go on an indefinite strike beginning midnight of 7 September to demand the reinstatement of two pilots fired earlier in August. Sam Thomas and Balaraman were fired by Jet Airways for their roles in forming the union.

Mint could not immediately contact NAG president Girish Kaushik.

“In view of this clarification, and this confirmation by the government authorities, Jet Airways assures all its guests that, going forward, it is confident of maintaining normalcy in its flight schedules and operations,” a spokeswoman for the airline said in a statement.