Air India Express sacks 30 employees after mass sick leave, asks others to join work
Air India Express sacks 30 employees after mass sick leave, asks others to join work
NEW DELHI: Tata Group-owned Air India Express has sacked around 30 of its employees who reported ‘sick leave’ on Wednesday leading to the cancellation of over 90 flights.
“An overwhelming number of other cabin crew members have also reported sick and not reported for their duties. This clearly points to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason. As a result, a large number of flights had to be cancelled thereby disrupting the entire schedule, which caused tremendous inconvenience to esteemed passengers,” the termination letters issued read.
“Your act is not only subversive of public interest, but has also caused embarrassment, severe reputational damage, and serious monetary loss to the Company. Your act of reporting sick for work amounts to a concerted action with a common understanding, to not operate the flight and to disrupt services of the company,” it further read.
The airline has also issued ultimatum to striking cabin crew to join work by 4 pm on Thursday, reported PTI citing sources.
Meanwhile, the airline cancelled about 75 flights on Thursday.
The crisis at Air India Express occurred at a crucial time, coinciding with the ongoing merger process with AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India). The unrest has added another layer of complexity to the merger, as cabin crew members continue to protest against perceived injustices in their employment terms.
The sudden disruption in operations caused chaos at Delhi Airport as the Air India Express cancelled flights to Goa, Guwahati and Srinagar at the last moment.
The announcement led to a state of confusion and distress among the affected travellers, who congregated around the airline’s counter, visibly upset and demanding explanations. Passengers were seen crowding in front of an Air India Express desk.
Soon after the chaos broke out, the airline asked passengers scheduled to fly Wednesday “to check if their flight is affected before heading” to the airport.
“The situation is dynamic as senior cabin crew are reporting sick at the last minute, just before they are to operate flights. While we are proactively cancelling flights till next Monday, the actual number may differ depending on crew turnout. We are minimising international disruptions and less than 20% of the cancellations will be of our overseas flights,” airline sources said.
The spokesperson said on Wednesday, “While we are engaging with the crew to understand the reasons behind these occurrences, our teams are actively addressing this issue to minimise any inconvenience caused to our guests as a result.”
Passengers affected by the flight cancellations will be offered a refund or the option to reschedule their travel at no additional cost, according to the Air India Express spokesperson.
With over 80% aircraft occupancy these days, about 13,000 passengers were affected by the cancellations.
Later, the Tata Group’s airline merger – which operates 350-400 flights daily, of which over 250 are domestic and 120 international – declared to cut about 40 flights daily till May 13.
AI Express cancellations in peak summer are bound to affect travellers as capacity is already constrained – over 75 IndiGo planes are grounded due to snag-ridden Pratt & Whitney engines, GoAir has shutdown, struggling SpiceJet is operating few flights, and deliveries of new aircraft from Airbus and crisis-ridden Boeing have been slower than expected.
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