As Air India Express faces cancellation of 74 of its flights owing to an ongoing protest by a section of its cabin crew, Air India has stepped in to aid passengers facing disruptions, stating that it will run flights on 20 of its subsidiary’s routes.
“We will be operating 283 flights today. We have mobilised all resources and Air India will support us by operating on 20 of our routes. However, 85 of our flights stand cancelled and we urge our guests booked to fly with us to check if their flight is affected by the disruption before heading to the airport,” the airline said in a press release on Thursday.
“If their flight is cancelled, or delayed beyond 3 hours, they may opt for a full refund or reschedule to a later date without any fees on Tia on WhatsApp (+91 6360012345) or on airindiaexpress.com,” it added.
Air India Express sacks some crew members
On Wednesday, the airline has taken strict disciplinary action and handed out termination letters to some of the agitating employees, as reported by The Indian Express earlier. The Tata-group airline has sacked around 25 senior cabin crew members following the mass sick leave by over a hundred senior cabin crew.
The strongly worded termination letters were emailed to employees late on Wednesday stating the move pointed to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without a justifiable cause, The Indian Express has learnt. The letter accused the agitating members of causing reputational damage and monetary loss to the brand.
The remaining crew members have been handed over a deadline of 4 PM today to resume work.
However, it remains unclear if the airline remains open to reinstating the sacked cabin crew. Senior management of Air India Express carrier continues to engage with the agitating employees to dissuade them from extending their sick leaves.
Why are the cabin crew members protesting?
An arm of Tata-group owned Air India, the airline is seeing network-wide disruptions, as some cabin crew members reported sick evidently to protest against the changes in the carrier’s human resources (HR) policies.
The Air India Express Employees, the employees’ union representing 300 workers, wrote to Tata group and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran earlier alleging that the airline was being mismanaged and there was a “lack of equality in treatment”.
Tata group is moving ahead with its plan to merge its two airlines, Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India), and has also stepped up hiring of cabin crew to support its expansion.
The airline usually operates over 350 daily flights on a daily basis and has flexibility to go up to around 400 daily flights if need arises.
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First uploaded on: 09-05-2024 at 13:24 IST
