Mumbai :  Under pressure from various quarters, the derecognised Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) Thursday appealed to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh to open channels of negotiation and accused the Air India management of backtracking on its commitments.

"The ministry has failed to respond to the offer for talks. IPG is willing to meet with officials of management/ministry at any place at any time in order to resolve the impasse," the IPG said in a late night statement, appealing to Ajit Singh "to open a channel of negotiations".

The IPG listed in detail the backgrounder leading to the current impasse, starting from the pre-merger days of Air India and Indian Airlines till now -- its members have resorted to mass sick leave for the last three days, leading to complete disruption of the Air India network.

Claiming arbitrariness and discrimination between pilots of Air India and the erstwhile Indian Airlines, IPG said the management gave