Centre seeks report from Vistara over cancellation and flight delays

New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has sought a detailed report from Vistara regarding flight cancellations and major delays, with the airline having cancelled or delayed over 100 flights in the past week.

The aviation ministry has been flooded with complaints regarding Vistara flight cancellations and delays across the country.

According to a senior official of MoCA, “We have sought a detailed report from Vistara regarding flight cancellations and delays.”

With more than 100 flights cancelled and delayed in the last week, Vistara Airlines has suffered severe operational turbulence.

The airline said its teams are working to stabilise the situation as it has happened due to various operational reasons.

“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,”said a Vistara spokesperson.

“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 customer, as applicable. Once again, we understand that these disruptions have caused immense discomfort to our customers, and sincerely apologise to them for the same. We are working towards stabilizing the situation and will resume operating our regular capacity very soon.”- Vistara Spokesperson,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, according to Aviation sources, the situation has developed after pilots refused to operate due to long duty hours and reduced flying hours.

In early March, Vistara’s flight operations from two major cities, Delhi and Mumbai airports, were impacted, mainly due to the unavailability of pilots. Vistara is in the process of merging with Air India after it was privatised.
Several passengers raised their concerns on social media and reported the matter to the ministry and regulating authorities.