Air India Express has been playing games with livelihood of thousands of Indian Expats working in Gulf Region by cancelling over 100 flights since Tuesday night. Most of the cancellations were not communicated to travelers until the last minute.
The cabin crew shortage was the primary reason behind these cancellations and around 15,000 passengers were impacted, with flights being cancelled on both domestic and international routes.
The airline’s CEO Aloke Singh said the disruptions have forced them to curtail the flight schedule over the next few days to cope with the non-availability
of crew and recover operations.
Air India Express said that many employees went on sick leave and alleged that it is a
“pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work” that caused “severe reputational damage” and financial loss to the company.
The airline is engaging with the cabin crew to understand the reasons behind the mass sick leave and has asked all employees on leave to return to work by 4pm on Thursday or face further action.
The flight disruptions come amid the ongoing merger process between Air India Express and AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India), as well as the planned integration of Vistara into Air India.
It hard to believe that Air India Express management could not foresee this issue and also were inefficient in managing the situation. Discontent has been brewing among a section of the Air India Express cabin crew over HR practices and compensation changes.
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