Indian air carrier Vistara Airline, co-owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, has been facing severe criticism by passengers as it has been hit by multiple flight cancellations and delays in the last few days. The airlines on Monday issued a statement confirming the inconvenience and said that teams are working to stabilise the situation.
Vistara cited ‘crew unavailability’ for the frequent delay and cancellation of flights and said that the airline will temporarily reduce the number of flights to ensure adequate connectivity across our network.
“We confirm that we have had a number of flight cancellations and unavoidable delays in the last few days due to various operational reasons. Our teams are tirelessly working to stabilising the situation. We regret the inconvenience caused to our valued customers due to these disruptions,” the airlines said in an official statement following backlash by passengers.
“We have decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights we operate, to ensure adequate connectivity across our network. 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,” the statement read further.
“We are offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers, 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 stabilising the situation and will resume operating our regular capacity very soon,” it added.
Several irate passengers took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and shared their ordeal over delays and cancellations.
Among them was former Infosys Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mohandas Pai, who expressed his outrage over a delayed Bangalore to Ahmedabad Vistara flight.
“@airvistara service sucks. 20mts before departure from BLR to AHMEDABAD . -10-30 am, they change the time of D to 1200 noon. No prior notice. Why did @vistara not message the delay? Terrible service, no announcement, no clarity,” Mohandas Pai wrote on X.
Historian and writer Vikram Sampath also shared his dismay on social media after his flight was cancelled at the last minute.
“Pathetic @airvistara … mumbai blore flight 5 pm gets cancelled last min citing ‘operational reasons’.. we change booking to morning 9 am. U announce boarding n then say ‘operational reason’ it now leaves at 11. Do u even care for ur customers, their time, money? As a CV Gold member frustrated by ur poor service,” Sampath tweeted.
The airline faced a similar crisis last month after flight operations were impacted at Delhi and Mumbai airports, largely due to the non-availability of pilots.