Vistara faces turbulence; flights cancelled, forces delays across the country

Twenty nine Vistara flights were cancelled on Tuesday comprising 14 departures and 17 arrivals from Mumbai 12 from Delhi and 11 from Bengaluru Multiple flights experienced delaysPassengers took to social media to express frustration over the disruptions The Ministry of Civil Aviation MoCA instructed Tata Grouprsquos fullservice airline Vistara to submit a detailed report on the repeated flight cancellations and delaysVistara faced premerger turbulence with 52 flight cancellations across India on Tuesday attributed to a shortage of pilots Several pilots began calling in sick from midMarch after the airline decided to revise their salary structure leading to a substantial decrease in their takehome payFlight cancellationsSources from Mumbai airport said ldquo29 flights tofrom various airports have been cancelled today Tuesday due to the ongoing issue of Vistara pilots calling in sickrdquo Sources from Delhi and Bengaluru airports disclosed that 12 and 11 flights respectively were cancelled on Tuesday with multiple delaysPilots issueIn response to the pilotsrsquo issues an airline staffer and senior pilot explained ldquoAs part of its merger with Air India we Vistararsquos pilots will be put under Air Indiarsquos pay system which is likely to hamper our minimum assured flying pay We will now be assured of payment for 40 hours a decrease from the previous 70 hours mentioned in our contracts with the airlinerdquo Following the ultimatum in March several pilots began taking sick leave triggering flight cancellations and delaysPassengers on XPassengers voiced their frustration on social media platforms Kiran Prakash from X account MSKiranPrakash tweeted ldquoVistara Waiting since 6 pm on April 1 for my flight from Bangalore Itrsquos now 1 40 am on April 2 Flight still has not departed No word yet from DGCAIndia JM_Scindia MoCA_Gol SICrdquoPragyaditya Das from his X account PragyadityaD tweeted ldquoHow Vistara spoiled our day My flight was scheduled for 715 pm on April 1 2024 Itrsquos now 1 44 am on April 2 2024 Flight still not left Staff strikes are sudden and unacceptable Passengers in distressrdquoMoCA speaksA senior MoCA official stated ldquoWe have sought a detailed report from Vistara regarding flight cancellations and delays We have asked the airlines to submit daily reports of flight cancellations to DGCArdquoVistara speaksIn an official statement Vistara acknowledged the disruptions and stated ldquoWe have had a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the past few days due to various reasons including crew unavailability We acknowledge and are deeply concerned about the inconvenience this has caused to our customers Our teams are working towards minimising discomfort to customersrdquoThey announced temporary reductions in flight operations and the deployment of larger aircraft to accommodate affected passengers They also offered alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers Vistara apologised for the disruptions and assured customers of efforts to stabilise operations soon52Total no of flights cancelled