NEW DELHI: The Airline Pilots Association of India (ALPA INDIA) has cautioned the top management of Air India Express on the need to urgently address serious issues pertaining to the working culture of its rostering department as it directly impacts passenger safety.
The pilot body has warned of an operational crisis similar to the one that occurred at IndiGo in December 2025 if these lapses were ignored.
The communication was sent on January 5 to the Board of Directors of Air India by Captain Sam Thomas, president of ALPA India, appealing for its direct intervention. It draws attention to two recent incidents at the airline involving the rostering staff, in which the concerns of pilots were ignored.
Rostering wields significant discretionary power that directly impacts pilot fatigue, morale, retention, and ultimately safety outcomes, the letter explains.
Without giving specific dates on the incidents, ALPA INDIA said they were recent ones. The first instance involved a senior official. “A Rostering Manager publicly posted on social media boasting about retaliatory action against pilots who declined roster changes for personal or family reasons,” the pilot body alleged.
It charged, “This conduct was unprofessional and reflected an intent to use scheduling power to instill fear rather than resolve operational challenges through reason and empathy. Such messaging signals that compliance is enforced through punitive rosters and not by transparent and respectful processes.”
Recalling the second incident, Captain Thomas alleged, “A rostering staff member was observed ignoring calls on the pilot hotline while prioritising personal grooming and social media activity.” The pilot hotline is a safety-critical channel that may involve emergencies, duty time limitations, fitness-to-fly issues, or family crisis. “Disregarding such calls is fundamentally incompatible with the responsibilities of the role,” he added.
Recent incidents, combined with long-standing patterns, indicate that some staff in the department “are operating with a retaliatory and ego-driven mindset” rather than one aligned with human factors and empathy, the Captain charged.
“In the context of rapid expansion and heightened public scrutiny, this represents a material strategic risk for Air India Express,” he added.
Recalling the large-scale operational disruption at IndiGo in December 2025, the ALPA INDIA president pointed out that mismanaged rosters, fatigue and dismissive attitudes toward crew concerns can rapidly escalate into operational, financial, and reputational crises. “Air India Express faces similar growth and scheduling pressures,” Captain Thomas said.
The letter urged that rostering staff must be trained to manage refusals and constraints without threats or retaliation. The staff must be made to understand that exploiting Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) grey areas to “teach lessons” is unacceptable, even if technically legal.
The pilot body also made these key recommendations to the Board to rectify the situation -- Formalise pilot hotline protocols as a safety-critical function with response timelines, audit trails, and supervisory oversight linked to performance incentives; Create a small joint oversight committee (Management, Human Resources, Flight Operations team and ALPA) to review complaints, high tension cases and systemic issues, and to report recommendations to the Board.