Taking a U-turn, Air India (AI) pilots withdrew their strike call within 24 hours after management of the airline assured them payment of their flying allowances.

The AI pilots, associated with the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA), had threatened on Sunday that they would go on strike due to non payment of their flying allowances.

Announcing the strike action on Sunday, the ICPA said in a letter that work without wages was not short of slavery, and pilots were no exception to that. The association also stressed that irregular and partial payments had been adding excessive stress on its members.

But, the pilots decided to postpone their strike action on Monday after the airline management assured them payment of dues in an emergency meeting held on Monday in New Delhi.

After the meeting, a member of the ICPA said, "Airline management has assured us that they would make payment of all due allowances by tomorrow, so we have differed our stir."

Flying allowance constitutes nearly 75 per cent of a pilot's salary.

Meanwhile, AI is preparing to enter Star Alliance, the world's largest airline alliance.