Five senior pilots of Air India have died in May due to Covid-19, senior officials said on Thursday, adding that the carrier has started vaccinating its employees from May 15 onwards after a delay due to non-availability of vaccines.
These five senior pilots were captain Harsh Tiwary, captain G P S Gill, captain Prasad Karmakar, captain Sandeep Rana and captain Amitesh Prasad, they said.
Meanwhile, private carriers such as Vistara and AirAsia India have given at least the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to around 99 per cent and 96 per cent of their eligible employees respectively as of now.
People who are being treated for Covid-19 or have recently recovered from Covid-19 are not considered eligible for vaccination.
Air India had on May 4 said it would vaccinate all its employees against Covid-19 by the month-end as a pilots’ body had demanded inoculation of the flying crew on priority basis citing risk to their lives from the deadly infection.
Six days later, the carrier had to tell its employees that it would not be able to hold Covid-19 vaccination camps for th ..