NEW DELHI: From being the most acclaimed airline to cancelling over 100 flights in two days, full-service carrier Vistara is facing massive turbulence ahead of its merger with Air India, as currently there are not enough pilots to operate its flights.
The condition at the airline has turned so severe that the aviation ministry and sector regulator DGCA have stepped in to check the disruption that has stranded thousands of passengers at airports. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has sought a detailed report from the Tata Group airline. “We are monitoring the situation of Vistara flight cancellations. However, flight operations are managed by the airlines themselves. They have to comply with DGCA norms to ensure passenger facilitation in case of cancellation or delay of flights,” said MoCA on Tuesday.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked the airline to submit daily information and details on the flights that are being cancelled and delayed. The officials of the DGCA are also monitoring the situation to ensure compliance with requirements for providing facilities to passengers in case of flight cancellations and delays.
Vistara has acknowledged that crew shortage is a reason for the prevailing situation. “We 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…We have decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights we operate, to ensure adequate connectivity across our network,” said a Vistara spokesperson on Monday.
At the heart of this disruption are the pilots of Vistara who have started reporting sick leaves, leaving the airline with no choice but to cancel flights. In recent weeks, discontent has been simmering among pilots at Vistara following the new contracts wherein there are concerns that the fixed pay component is getting reduced and there is more flying-linked incentive in the salary structure.
As per a senior pilot at Vistara, the new contract notes that they will be eligible for guaranteed pay for 40 hours, a sharp fall from the 70 hours in their earlier contracts with the airline. He added that this would lead to a significant cut in their takeaway salaries. Pilots are also dissatisfied with rostering and their graduation process from narrow-body to wide-body aircraft.
“We are not pleased by the manner we were forced to sign the new contracts. There was barely any discussion when we first showed our discontent,” said the pilot requesting not to be named. The new contract aims to bring parity between pilots of Vistara and Air India as part of the ongoing merger process which is expected to be completed in 2025.