New Delhi/Kochi: Air India Express has canceled over 80 flights since Tuesday night due to reports of a section of senior cabin crew falling ill in protest against alleged mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned airline, leading to the cancellation of flights at various destinations in the country. Hundreds of passengers are stranded at airports. ,
Hundreds of passengers of Air India Express, mostly traveling to Gulf countries, protested at airports in Kerala against the last-minute cancellation of the flight.
Some of them claimed that they were informed about the cancellation after the security checks were completed.
On Wednesday, sources said more than 200 cabin crew are believed to have reported sick in protest against alleged mismanagement at the airline.
At least 80 flights were canceled and several were delayed since Tuesday night due to shortage of cabin crew.He said there were flight disruptions at various airports including Kochi, Calicut Delhi and Bengaluru.
An Air India Express spokesperson said the airline was in talks with the cabbie crew members to understand the reasons for reporting sick and also apologized for the flight disruption.
Discontent has been brewing among a section of cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for quite some time now, especially after it began the process of merging AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself.
Sources also said there was chaos at some airports due to sudden cancellation of flights, including to foreign destinations.
The airline is scheduled to operate 360 daily flights during the summer schedule that began in the last week of March.“A section of our cabin crew reported ill at the last minute, beginning last night, resulting in flight delays and cancellations.
An Air India Express spokesperson said in a statement, "While we are in dialogue with the crew to understand the reasons behind these incidents, our teams are proactively addressing the issue to ensure that our guests remain safe." Inconvenience can be reduced."
Apologizing to customers for the "unexpected disruption", the spokesperson said those affected by the cancellation would be offered a full refund or a complimentary rescheduling to another date.
Late last month, a union representing a section of Air India Express cabbie crew had alleged that the airline was being mismanaged and lacked equality in treatment of employees.
The Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU), a registered union, which claims to represent around 300 cabin crew members, mostly senior, had also alleged that mismanagement of matters had affected the morale of the staff. Have done.This development at Air India Express comes a month after the pilot crisis at Tata Group's full-service carrier Vistara forced it to temporarily cut Dow capacity by 10 per cent or 25-30 flights per day.
On Wednesday, a woman passenger, who was to travel from Kannur to Sharjah with twins and her husband in an Air India Express flight, said she had to go back to work on May 9, but the airline was allowing her to fly only from Kochi. Was offering. 10th May.
"What would be the point of me traveling on May 10? If I don't reach there before May 9, my boss will ask me not to come and I will lose my job," she told the media.
"Guests flying with us today are requested to check whether their flight has been affected before proceeding to the airport," an airline spokesperson said.
As part of strengthening its airline business, the Tata group is merging Air India Express and AIX Connect as well as Vistara into Air India.
Hundreds of passengers of Air India Express, mostly traveling to Gulf countries, protested at airports in Kerala against the last-minute cancellation of the flight.
Some of them claimed that they were informed about the cancellation after the security checks were completed.
On Wednesday, sources said more than 200 cabin crew are believed to have reported sick in protest against alleged mismanagement at the airline.
At least 80 flights were canceled and several were delayed since Tuesday night due to shortage of cabin crew.He said there were flight disruptions at various airports including Kochi, Calicut Delhi and Bengaluru.
An Air India Express spokesperson said the airline was in talks with the cabbie crew members to understand the reasons for reporting sick and also apologized for the flight disruption.
Discontent has been brewing among a section of cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for quite some time now, especially after it began the process of merging AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself.
Sources also said there was chaos at some airports due to sudden cancellation of flights, including to foreign destinations.
The airline is scheduled to operate 360 daily flights during the summer schedule that began in the last week of March.“A section of our cabin crew reported ill at the last minute, beginning last night, resulting in flight delays and cancellations.
An Air India Express spokesperson said in a statement, "While we are in dialogue with the crew to understand the reasons behind these incidents, our teams are proactively addressing the issue to ensure that our guests remain safe." Inconvenience can be reduced."
Apologizing to customers for the "unexpected disruption", the spokesperson said those affected by the cancellation would be offered a full refund or a complimentary rescheduling to another date.
Late last month, a union representing a section of Air India Express cabbie crew had alleged that the airline was being mismanaged and lacked equality in treatment of employees.
The Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU), a registered union, which claims to represent around 300 cabin crew members, mostly senior, had also alleged that mismanagement of matters had affected the morale of the staff. Have done.This development at Air India Express comes a month after the pilot crisis at Tata Group's full-service carrier Vistara forced it to temporarily cut Dow capacity by 10 per cent or 25-30 flights per day.
On Wednesday, a woman passenger, who was to travel from Kannur to Sharjah with twins and her husband in an Air India Express flight, said she had to go back to work on May 9, but the airline was allowing her to fly only from Kochi. Was offering. 10th May.
"What would be the point of me traveling on May 10? If I don't reach there before May 9, my boss will ask me not to come and I will lose my job," she told the media.
"Guests flying with us today are requested to check whether their flight has been affected before proceeding to the airport," an airline spokesperson said.
As part of strengthening its airline business, the Tata group is merging Air India Express and AIX Connect as well as Vistara into Air India.