Flight Fiasco: Air India Express Grapples with 70+ Cancellations amidst Cabin Crew Sick Leave

NEW DELHI, MAY 8: Tata Group-run airline Air India Express has cancelled more than 70 international and domestic flights from Tuesday night till Wednesday morning after a section of crew members went on a “mass sick leave”. While the reason for this “mass sick leave” is not confirmed yet, industry sources say that crew members are protesting against alleged mismanagement.

“A section of our cabin crew has reported sick at the last minute, starting last night, resulting in flight delays and cancellations. While we are engaging with the crew to understand the reasons behind these occurrences, our teams are actively addressing this issue to minimise any inconvenience caused to our guests as a result,” said Air India Express Spokesperson on Wednesday.

“We sincerely apologise to our guests for this unexpected disruption and emphasise that this situation does not reflect the standard of service we strive to provide. Guests impacted by cancellations will be offered a full refund or complimentary rescheduling to another date. Guests flying with us today are requested to check if their flight is affected, before heading to the airport,” the spokesperson added.

Discontent has been brewing among a section of the cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for some time now, especially after the start of the process of merger of AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself. According to sources, several cabin crew members started reporting sick since Monday evening and as there are not enough cabin crew members, “scores of flights” have been cancelled at various airports, including Kochi, Calicut and Bangalore.

Late last month, a group of Air India Express cabin crew had alleged that the airline is being mismanaged and there is a lack of equality in the treatment of the staff. Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU), which has around 300 cabin crew members, on April 26 wrote a letter addressed to Tata Group and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran. Copies have been marked to Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh and others.

Meanwhile, many passengers took to social media on Wednesday complaining about the sudden cancellation of flights. There were visuals of mass chaos at some airports as well with few passengers seeking intervention from the civil aviation ministry.

The fresh trouble at a Tata group airline comes soon after another group airline Vistara faced a similar situation. The full-service carrier was forced to cancel 10% of its daily flights in April (25-30 flights per day) to normalise operation.  Vistara took this decision following a shortage of pilots.

Dissatisfied with the revised salary structure “forced upon them” ahead of the airline’s merger with Air India, a section of Vistara pilots had started reporting sick leaves in the first week of April, leading to disruption in the functioning of the airline. It is expected that the merger process will be completed by the end of this year.

-PTI