More than half of India’s Jet Airways 760 pilots have reported sick since last Tuesday, September 8th.

Flight cancellations have affected at least 14,000 passengers across the country. India's Jet Airways pilots are on strike over the sacking of four of their colleagues.

Other air carriers have taken advantage of the cancellation of 200 Jet Airways scheduled flights by charging steep fares.

Passengers have been severely impacted by the strike and mass flights cancellations.

[Anil Parekh, Airline Passenger]:
"I had my flight at 5:55 yesterday from Mumbai to Jaipur on Jet Airways but that was not available. The staff told me they would arrange a flight for us in the morning. But no flight was arranged in the morning either. Now they say they will arrange another flight at 11:00 in the morning. We have really faced lot of difficulty."

Jet Airways management and National Aviators Guild are expected to reach a breakthrough today.

The strike underlines the touchy Indian labor relations where outdated labor laws place a lot of limits on hiring and conditions for cutting back on costs and spending.

This has resulted in dampening competitiveness and leads to worker unrest.

The pilots contend they went on mass leave after four of their colleagues were sacked because they were trying to get the management to recognize their newly formed union.

Jet Airways says the four pilots were fired for disciplinary reasons.