Cabin Crew Row: 75 flights of Air India Express canceled again, officials said - situation may become normal by Sunday
Cabin Crew Row: Air India Express had to cancel more than 170 flights after a section of crew members suddenly went on leave. On Thursday, the management issued termination letters to 25 cabin crew members who went on sudden leave, which was later withdrawn after a settlement was reached. Now gradually the situation is becoming normal.
Officials expect that operations will resume normally by Sunday, despite the fact that Air India Express had to cancel about 75 flights on Friday due to a crew shortage. According to an official, approximately Rs 30 crore is the estimated revenue lost as a result of the flights' cancellations and passenger compensation.
After some of its crew members abruptly took leave on Tuesday night, Air India Express was forced to cancel over 170 flights. Twenty-five members of the cabin crew were abruptly given notice of termination by the management on Thursday; however, these letters were later revoked following a settlement.
About 75 flights were canceled on Friday, down from 100 on Thursday, an official said on condition of anonymity. The official said that the number of flights canceled on Saturday could be around 45 to 50.
The airline said Thursday afternoon that it had canceled 85 flights or about 23 percent of its total daily capacity. Tata Group's airline, which operates about 380 flights daily, had to curtail operations due to cabin crew members suddenly going on leave. The airline has canceled more than 260 flights since Tuesday night.
On average, the airline operates 120 international flights and 260 domestic services daily, the number of these flights has reduced in the last few days. Another official said the striking crew members are returning and the airline is helping them undergo medical checkups and obtain fitness certificates, which are required before they return to duty.
The official said most of the international flights operate in the evening and with the increase in the number of crew members, operations on this front are expected to improve from Friday. Officials said operations were gradually being restored and normalcy was expected to return by Sunday. After the strike ended on Thursday, the airline said it would help quickly restore flight schedules and apologized to passengers who were affected by the disruption.
Several cabin crew members had called in sick to protest against alleged mismanagement at the airline and lack of equality in treatment of staff. Air India Express is in the process of completing the merger with AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India), which has approximately 6,000 employees including over 2,000 cabin crew. The airline has a fleet of 73 aircraft.
