Mass sick leave by Air India Express crew grounds over 80 flights
Air India Express on Wednesday cancelled more than 80 flights after nearly 100 cabin crew members reported sick, protesting human resource practices of the airline.
CEO Aloke Singh said in a message to employees that he is open to discussion with the cabin crew and that the airline will curtail flights for the next few days to mitigate the disruption. The airline operates around 360 flights per day.
The civil aviation ministry sought a report from the airline, while Delhi's regional labour commissioner Ashok Perumalla pushed the company to settle the issues raised by the protesting staff.
«We are engaging with the crew to understand the reasons behind these occurrences...,» said a spokesperson of the airline.
Former CM of J&K Ghulam Nabi Azad and the general public complained about their flights being cancelled without intimation. The airline said it was rebooking the passengers on Air India flights.
Cabin crew members told ET that their salaries have been slashed by almost 20% owing to the merger of Air India Express with AirAsia India.
KK Vijaykumar, president of Air India Express Employees Union, which counts around 300 crew of the airline as its members, told ET that multiple allowances have been removed. The union had earlier written to the regional labour commissioner of Delhi and Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran that the airline was being mismanaged and there was a lack of equality in the treatment of the staff.
«Employees find themselves silenced when attempting to address grievances, with
