Soon after the strike that caused major flight disruptions was called off, Tata-owned airline said operations of Air India Express slowly started improving on Friday as more cabin crew members are joining back for duty. The strike by a section of the cabin crew since Tuesday night that resulted in the cancellation of more than 170 flights was called off on Thursday evening and the airline also withdrew termination letters issued to 25 striking cabin crew. The Tata Group airline, which operates around 380 flights daily, has curtailed operations in the wake of the strike and the official on Friday said, normalcy is expected in the next two days.
Cabin crew calls off strike:
Air India Express cabin crew on Thursday decided to withdraw their strike and the airline agreed to reinstate 25 staff who were terminated from service. A section of the cabin crew started reporting sick from Tuesday night to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the airline, forcing cancellation of more than 170 flights and impacting thousands of passengers at various airports.
The decisions to end the strike and withdraw the termination letters were agreed upon during a conciliation meeting between the representatives of cabin crew and the airline management at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in the national capital on Thursday.
The meeting, which went on for nearly five hours, was between representatives of Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) and airline management. The union is affiliated to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), an associate of the RSS.
Both parties will discuss the issues and there will be a meeting again on May 28.
After detailed discussions, persuasion and on appeal of the Conciliation Officer and the Chief Labour Commissioner, the union representatives agreed that “all the cabin crew members who have reported sick will report for duty with fitness certificate immediately, according to a document signed by the representatives of the union and the airline.
On Thursday, the low budget carrier cancelled 85 flights or about 23 per cent of the total operational capacity due to cabin crew shortage and will be operating 283 flights. To minimise the disruptions, Air India is operating flights on 20 routes of Air India Express, which has curtailed services till May 13.
On Wednesday, the civil aviation ministry sought a report from Air India Express on the cancellation of flights and also asked the airline to resolve the issues promptly.
Why were crew members unhappy with Tata?
Discontent has been brewing among a section of staff at Air India Express after the start of the process to merger AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself. A section of the cabin crew has alleged mismanagement and lack of equality in the treatment of staff. A conciliation process is happening under the Industrial Disputes Act after a union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew had filed a complaint before the labour department last year.
Room sharing, lack of proper support, revised salary structure and alleged differential treatment of experienced crew members of Air India Express are among the issues being flagged by the striking cabin crew.
In a message to the airline’s staff, Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh on Wednesday said since last evening, more than 100 cabin crew members have reported sick prior to their rostered flight duty, “at the last minute, severely disrupting our operations”.
“The disruptions have cascaded across the network, forcing us to curtail the schedules over the next few days. We had to do this to cope with the non-availability of crew and to recover schedules,” Singh had said.
Air India Express cabin crew’s strike came a month after Tata Group full-service carrier Vistara witnessed pilot woes, forcing it to temporarily cut down capacity by 10 per cent, or 25-30 flights daily.
An Air India Express spokesperson said the airline is engaging with the cabin crew members to understand the reasons for reporting sick and also apologised for the flight disruptions. Discontent has been brewing among a section of the cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for some time now, especially after the start of the merger process.
As part of consolidating its airline business, Tata Group is merging Air India Express and AIX Connect, as well as Vistara with Air India.
