Air India Express clears cabin crew issues; focuses on fleet expansion

Just days after the Air India Express Employee Union AIXEU criticised the airline for issuing a charge sheet to protesting cabin crew members the Chief Commercial Officer CCO of Air India Express said that the airline has fully sorted out the concerns of cabin crew members At the Aviation India 2024 event he discussed the issues of cabin crew members along with the expansion plans of the airlineConcerns resolvedAnkur Garg is the Chief Commercial Officer CCO of Air India Express He said ldquoThe cabin crew issues are now fully resolvedrdquo In early May Air India Express was forced to cancel more than 150 flights because of a planned mass sick leave by a section of its cabin crew members Garg said ldquoWhen an airline grows its capacity rapidly there is some amount of pressure on the staff members A very small section of cabin crew members went on strike Out of the 45 base stations the airline operates from disruptions were caused majorly at two of themrdquoldquoThe planned strike coincided with the unorganised transition from ARMS to the CAE crew rostering system As a result of which the airline lost the data of its pilots and cabin crew members Because of this even when all the protesting crew members returned to duty the disruptions continuedrdquo he added Garg also said that these two problems made the whole matter complicated Now airline operations have been normalised Operations are expected to remain stabilised from now onIncreased fleetldquoSince its privatisation Air India Express has added a fleet of 22 Boeing 737 MAX jets which were previously destined for Chinese carriers It is looking to add another 24 aircraft within the next six months With this the entire fleet of AIX Connect and Air India Express will cross 100 aircraft by the end of 2024rdquo said sources from Air India ExpressRecently the Chandigarh unit of NCLT granted merger approval to both AIX Connect and Air India Express The tribunal has asked both airlines to conclude the merger process within nine months of filing the plea AIX Connect will be fully dissolved into Air India Express Following this approval both airlines can transfer their assets and staff members to each otherGarg said ldquoThe integration of staff members is an easy process However when it comes to implementing system changes expanding aircraft operations and integrating the Human Resources of both airlines there will be challengesrdquoGarg added ldquoAir India Express is adjusting its schedules according to the longhaul international flights of Air India The LCC subsidiary is adjusting the timings of busy corporate routes to provide seamless connections to Air Indiarsquos international flights originating from Delhi Mumbai and Bengaluru the three hubs of Air Indiardquo