New Delhi, May 6 (IANS) Air India pilots called off their 10-day-old strike Friday night after the government and the pilots union reached an "understanding" on their demand for pay parity and fixed flying hours, an official said.

 
 Indian Commercial Pilots Association general secretary Captain Rishab Kapoor told IANS: "The strike has been called off and the pilots are resuming work tonight."
 
 He added that the pilots "trust and believe in the government and the Justice (retd) D.N. Dharmadhikari Committee (formed to look into human resource issues of the merger between Air India and Indian Airlines and on pay parity)."
 
 The pilots have told the two-member panel set to hold informal talks with them that they would honour any recommendations made by the Dharmadhikari Committee.
 
 The pilots who struck work from midnight April 26 belonged to the erstwhile Indian Airlines and are demanding pay parity with their colleagues in Air India since the two airlines merged into a single entity.
 
 "The two-member panel set up to hold informal talks with the striking pilots was able to make a breakthrough in ensuring that the 10-day long strike by the pilots of erstwhile Indian Airlines comes to an end," a senior civil aviation ministry official told IANS Friday.
 
 The official said that the decisin to call off the strike was taken by the representatives of ICPA who were in negotiations with interlocutors of the civil aviation ministry.
 
 The ICPA claims the support of 800-odd pilots of Air India, who went on strike from midnight April 26.
 
 "Yes, we have made substantial progress to reach common ground where the union and the management have agreed to work together until a final decision is taken by the ministry on the basis of the Justice Dharmadhikari Committee report," the official said.
 
 An official of the ICPA told IANS: "We are happy that at least one of our primary demands of pay partiy and of fixed flying hours is being honoured by the ministry and we look forward to this cooperation to move further."
 
 Earlier in the morning, the interlocutors from the aviation ministry and representatives of Air India pilots met for the third round of informal talks to resolve the impasse as the strike entered the 10th day, resulting in cancellation of 185 flights.
 
 The impasse had caused cancellation of a total 1,470 flights and a revenue loss of Rs.120 crore so far.
 
 The informal talks were started Wednesday at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan, headquarters of the civil aviation ministry, when representatives of the pilots met aviation ministry officials.
 
 The ministry's team was headed by Joint Secretary P.N. Sukul.