Bengaluru: Vistara flights across the country, including Bengaluru, suffered massive delays on Monday due to various reasons, including crew shortage.
A flight from Bengaluru to Ahmedabad was delayed by 6.5 hours forcing many to cancel their trip. Vistara has now announced that it would be temporarily reducing some flights across the country.
Flight no. UK 574 was scheduled to depart from Kempegowda International Airport to Ahmedabad at 10.30 am. The flight with a travel time of 2 hours and ten minutes finally departed six hours and 29 minutes later. Among the upset and irate flyers was T V Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital Partners, who finally cancelled his trip and returned home from the airport.
Speaking to TNIE, Pai said, "The original timing was 10.30 am. By 10.12, we got a message stating the flight has been rescheduled to 12 noon. One expects this information to be conveyed at least 45 to 50 minutes in advance. Later on, around 11.35 pm, information is conveyed that it would depart only by 2 pm. Though Vistara fare is costlier, we go by it because we believe it would fly on time and we can reach on time for quick business meetings. I cancelled my trip and left home."
Delays do happen but flyers need to be updated about the change in schedule immediately so that other plans can be made, he added.
Pai's return flight from Ahmedabad to Bengaluru too was rescheduled from 5.45 pm to 10 pm, he added.
The delay in flights was experienced across the country and many took to X to vent their ire with a few pointing out that they had a shortage of pilots.
Asked about it, Vistara said in a statement, "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. Having said that, our teams are working towards minimizing the discomfort to the customers. We have decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights we operate, to ensure adequate connectivity across our network. We have also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more number of customers, wherever possible. Furthermore, we are offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers, as applicable. "