Air India Express hit by disruptions as section of cabin crew mount protest

Around 80 Air India Express flights have been disrupted, including cancellations and long delays, due to the crew shortage since Tuesday (May 7) night as over 200 cabin crew called in sick, according to sources in the know. The airline operates over 350 daily flights and has flexibility to go up to around 400 daily flights as per summer schedule for this year.

“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,” an Air India Express spokesperson said.

The disruptions led to a number of passengers taking to social media to complain about cancellations and long delays.

“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 airline’s spokesperson added.

In April, the Air India Express Employees Union, which says it has 300 senior cabin crew as members, wrote to Tata group and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran, alleging that the airline was being mismanaged and there was a “lack of equality in treatment” of employees.

The union had complained that the Air India Express management was disregarding experience and merit, and external candidates were being preferred over the airline’s own eligible and qualified candidates. It also complained that take-home pay for cabin crew has gone down due to merger as some of the earlier allowances have been removed.

Sources in the airline indicated that with the Air India Express-AIX Connect merger, the airline is moving towards a merit-based appreciation system instead of a progression system based on seniority, and this appears to have fanned the fire of disgruntlement among a section of the cabin crew, particularly the senior members. Additional hiring of fresh cabin crew is also learnt to have led to concerns among existing crew members about career progression.

According to a source in Air India Express, the airline management had attempted to address all concerns of the dissatisfied employees in a recent town hall, and all internal channels of communication remain open for employees to engage with the management to resolve their concerns.

The Tata group is in the process of consolidating its airline business by merging Air India Express and AIX Connect into one budget airline under the Air India Express brand. On the full-service carrier front, Vistara will be merged with Air India. The experience in India and even globally shows that airline mergers can be extremely complicated, particularly on the staff integration front.

One of the major reasons behind the recent pilots’ protest at Vistara is understood to be the new pay structure that is in line with Air India, but not as remunerative as the contracts Vistara pilots already had.