Air India employees staged a surprise strike today to protest a delayed salary payment, forcing the cancellation of 42 flights, AP quoted officials as saying. The walkout adds to the beleaguered national carrier's woes days after one of its planes exploded in India's worst aviation accident in over a decade. «The people have walked out in a flash,» Air India spokesman K. Swaminathan said by phone Tuesday evening. He said that by midnight, 42 flights would be grounded, almost all domestic. He said he did not have accurate figures on how many employees had walked off their jobs. -- SPA
