A body of India's airline pilots has demanded frontline worker status be given to its members, citing 17 pandemic-related deaths in the segment.

The Federation of Indian Pilots filed a petition before the Bombay High Court seeking the creation of a separate category "Air Transportation Worker" under frontline worker tag, according to an NDTV report

In its plea, the body demanded benefits like insurance coverage, priority vaccination and compensation. It said 17 airline pilots had died of the pandemic, 13 of them since February 2021 alone, it added.

The body has 5619 members working for Airlines such as Vistara, GoAir, Indigo, SpiceJet, Air India, Reliance Commercial and Saudia.

At least 1995 Air India personnel have tested positive for Covid-19 and 583 required hospitalization till February this year.

The pilots have demanded that the government should define air insurance payable to those flying scheduled and non scheduled Vande Bharat flights.

They have demanded death or permanent medical and fitness compensation under government's new insurance scheme independent of any other insurance policies they already have. (SAM)