Air India Express crew call off strike; airline agrees to take back the 25 terminated cabin crew members
cabin crew of Air India Express ended the strike on Thursday after the management of the airline agreed to take back the 25 crew who have been terminated.
The management has also assured that issues raised by their union will be looked into. The decisions were taken in a conciliation meeting held by the Chief Labour Commissioner of Delhi.
The members of the cabin crew union who attended the meeting has promised that the crew will report for work immediately.
The airline had sacked the crew members for calling in sick which forced the airline to cancel more than 90 flights on Wednesday. It cancelled around 85 flights today and will operate a curtailed schedule for the next few days.
Nearly 100 cabin crew members reported sick, protesting human resource practices of the airline, leading to a shortage of staff.
In the termination letter, which was reviewed by ET, the airline said that a large number of crew reported sick at the same time, which points to a concerted action to disrupt operations.
As part of restructuring its airline business, the Tata group is merging the two carriers to create a low-cost airline, and Vistara and Air India to compete in the premium segment.
Last month, Vistara had to cancel 25% of their flights as pilots, unhappy with their revised salaries, reported being sick.
Before the merger, Air India Express used to operate flights only to the West Asian countries and its crew were paid multiple allowances, After the merger, the crew is also required to fly to domestic destinations. As a
