Air India Express cancels 86 flights as crew stage mass sick leave protest

Air India Express has cancelled 86 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.

The issue

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 merger process between AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, and Air India Express. "Several cabin crew members have been reporting sick since Monday evening. Due to the shortage of cabin crew members, scores of flights were cancelled at various airports, including Kochi, Calicut, and Bangalore," said an industry source.

"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," said an AIX staffer.

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

Sources from Mumbai airport said, "As of now (3:50 PM), one flight of Air India Express from Mumbai has been delayed due to crew constraints but other airports across the country are facing a major impact of the crew calling in sick. Since Air India Express does not serve many flights at Mumbai airport as opposed to Air India, Indigo, and other airlines, the city airport did not see many disruptions due to crew calling in sick."

Previous issue

The fresh trouble at the Tata group airline comes soon after another group airline, Vistara, faced a similar situation. The full-service carrier was forced to cancel 10 per cent of its daily flights in April (25-30 flights per day) to normalise operations. 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," said another industry source familiar with the issue.

Air India Express speaks

"A section of our cabin crew has reported sick at the last minute, starting last night (Tuesday), 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.

Aviation authorities

Following the chaos caused by the cancellation of numerous Air India Express flights across the country, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) intervened on Wednesday. They instructed the airline to furnish a report on these cancellations and to adhere to the passenger facilities outlined by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

A senior official from MoCA in a conversation with mid-day said, "We have asked the airlines to submit a detailed report of the cancellations and have also directed them to ensure that the passengers are provided with facilities according to the norms laid down by the DGCA."

Meanwhile, a source from DGCA said, "As far as I am aware of the issue, the cabin crew of Air India Express went on a strike to protest against the mismanagement of the airlines. Though we await an official report from the airlines regarding the matter, we are making sure that the complaints from the passengers regarding flight disruptions and issues with not adhering to the norms laid by us for delays are catered to with topmost priority."

300
No. of crew that have reported sick