Indian aviation witnessed serious disruptions this week when budget carrier Air India Express cancelled over 170 flights over three days. The cancellations, which followed a large section of its employees going on sick leave en masse, left thousands of passengers stranded and airfares soaring. The crisis has been resolved for now, with the crew returning to duty after the airline agreed to look into their concerns and withdrew the termination letters issued to 25 striking employees. But the harrowing experience of fliers, many of whom had their flights cancelled at the last minute, cannot be overlooked.
While the episode demonstrated how professionalism—an essential in the services sector—is in short supply among the aviation workforce, the Tata Group-owned airline, which operates around 380 daily flights, cannot walk away from the responsibility as it knew about the brewing trouble. The Air India Express Employees Union had written to the top group management in April, seeking redress of their grievances that included “mismanagement”, reduction in payments due to new HR policies, and lack of equality in employee treatment.
In April first week, another Tata Group airline Vistara had to cancel over 150 flights and delay others after pilots went on mass sick leave over salary disputes. Some trouble is expected as the Tata Group is restructuring its airline business—merging Vistara with Air India to create a bigger full-service carrier, and AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with Air India Express to form a bigger budget carrier. The mergers have been met with resistance from employees who are apprehensive of possible salary cuts and changes in working conditions.
While these disruptions obviously point to the challenges involved in mergers of such a scale, the group must ensure the least disruption in services in the interest of protecting its renowned credibility. It can take lessons from the 2007 merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, where the HR issues took years to resolve. Bringing about pay parity and integrating people from different organisational cultures are not easy to achieve, but staff resentment needs to be dealt with cautiously and quickly. Authorities, including the aviation ministry, must intervene to avoid major disruptions in flight services and ensure that the affected passengers are adequately compensated.