AI Express crisis still on, 400+ flights cancelled in last 12 days

KOCHI: The crisis in Air India Express is deepening. The airline had to cancel over 400 flights in the last 12 days after employees who went on mass sick leave agreed to rejoin duty, reported.

In a letter to the chief labour commissioner, Air India Express Employees Union (AIEEU), affiliated with Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, attributed the current situation to a technical glitch in the scheduling software introduced by management. On the other hand, the management is holding employees responsible for flight cancellations.

Around 80 flights operated by Air India Express had to be cancelled because senior cabin crew members called in sick in large numbers on May 7 and 8. Even though the cabin crew agreed to return to work after a meeting facilitated by the chief labour commissioner (central) on May 9, the airline has not yet fully resumed services.

According to employees, approximately 100 flight attendants have been waiting in Bengaluru for nearly two months to resume duty because their aerodrome entry passes could not be renewed. "The operations department lost cabin crew data during the transition from old software to the new app managed by the operations department. The department has asked the cabin crew to submit their details in order to update data in the new system," said K K Vijayakumar, president of AIEEU.

Meanwhile, the management said the problems would be resolved by the weekend.

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