Air India has incurred an approximate loss of Rs 26.5 crore in the past days due to the pilots' strike which forced it to cancel at least 280 flights.

The airline, which normally operates 320 flights on a daily basis, cancelled 57 flights on April 27, 96 on April 28 and at least 126 yesterday, an official said here.

The number of cancellations were more today because of the management's decision to refuse fresh bookings for five days, he said.

The estimated losses on these three days were Rs 4.5 crore, Rs ten crore and Rs 12 crore respectively, he added.