The civil aviation ministry asked the Jet Airways management and its pilots to sort out issues through dialogue rather than inconvenience thousands of passengers.

'Our view is very clear. We have said we'd like this to be solved. Both sides should come to the table,' Civil Aviation Secretary M. Madhavan Nambiar told a news conference here.

'Any act on the part of pilots, which may result in last-minute cancellation of flights and harassment of passengers, would be treated as an act against the public interest,' the ministry said in a statement.

Jet Airways said all affected guests can get a full refund or rebook themselves on an alternate date without any cancellation or reissue charges.

'Regrettably, a section of the pilots who were rostered for operations have resorted to a simulated strike by reporting sick,' a Jet Airways spokesperson said.

'Jet Airways is taking all steps to minimise the inconvenience to its guests. The airline will make all efforts to operate the maximum number of flights,' he said.

'However, perforce, some flights may have to be combined or cancelled. We will try to accommodate our guests on alternate flights.'

The newly formed NAG has been asking the carrier to take back two pilots sacked last month.

NAG president Girish Kaushik said the guild had issued the mandatory 14-day notice to the airline, and added the sacking of the two pilots was an act of vendetta for being instrumental in starting a new union and was totally unjustified.

The two sacked senior pilots, Balaraman and Sam Thomas, were told of their termination by e-mail.

'My sincere apologies to passengers. All we want is that the management takes the two pilots back,' Kaushik told IANS. 'We are not on strike. This is an individual decision by each pilot.'

Asked if it was not too much of a coincidence that some 400 pilots reported sick at the same time, Kaushik said: 'We could all have had food poisoning. That's why we all could have become ill.'

Jet Airways said it was in conciliatory talks with the union and the Regional Labour Commissioner had warned that any strike during this period would be deemed illegal as per the Industrial Disputes Act.

Airline chairman Naresh Goyal also met Civil Aviation Secretary Nambiar and Director General Civil Aviation S.N.A. Zaidi to brief them on the issue and seek their help in ensuring that the pilots report back at work.