The stalemate between Air India management and its striking pilots continued into the sixth day on May 2 as the national carrier could operate only 40 of its 320 daily domestic flights. Close to 90% of the flights have been canceled due to the strike by more than 800 pilots, an Air India spokesman says. “We will operate only 40 of the total 320 flights throughout the duration of the pilots’ strike ... all flights canceled are domestic, our international operations continue as per schedule,” the spokesman says.

A day after U.S. companies were shut out from the competition to secure the Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) program for the Indian air force, the Obama administration is promoting the sale of Boeing’s C-17 transport to New Delhi. The air force had shortlisted the C-17 to be its new heavy-lift transport aircraft two years ago That deal is worth about $4 billion.

A Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) trainer jet crashed April 28 in southern India during a routine sortie barely a week after an advanced light helicopter, also developed by the state-owned company, went down near the Indo-China border. “The intermediate jet trainer [IJT], prototype aircraft S-3466, was carrying out routine flight testing when it met with a mishap in the afternoon. Both of the test pilots onboard ejected safely,” HAL says in a statement. The company has begun an accident investigation.