Vistara on Friday (April 5) issued an apology to its passengers for the substantial flight cancellations experienced over past few days. The airline attributed the cancellations to a notable number of pilots taking sick leave, a trend that followed the introduction of new salary regulations coinciding with the merger with Air India.
“We acknowledge that the recent experience of our customers fell short of the standards that we hold ourselves to and we sincerely apologise for the same,” Vistara said in a statement posted on its official X handle.
Vistara discloses reason behind delays, cancellations
The airline cited “various operational reasons” and “high utilization of resources” as the primary causes for a substantial number of flight cancellations and delays, leaving limited flexibility to handle unforeseen circumstances.
The airline emphasised that it was actively addressing the issue with urgency. Over the course of the last two weeks, more than 200 Vistara flights experienced disruptions, either being cancelled or delayed.
Additionally, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation
“First and foremost, we have temporarily reduced the number of flights we operate and also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 DreamlinerTM and A321 neo on select domestic routes to accommodate more customers, wherever possible. Furthermore, we are reaching out to all customers affected by the delays and cancellations over the last weekend, to offer relevant refunds and compensation,” Vistara said.
Situation improving
There has been a notable improvement in the situation, with on-time performance rising to over 80 percent over the past two days. The airline aims to achieve operational stability for the remainder of April 2024 by the upcoming weekend.
“We would like to assure our customers that we will live up to the Vistara experience that they have come to expect from us over the years. We thank our customers for their continued support and request for their patience as we work towards resolving this,” the airline added.