Crisis-hit Vistara may withdraw up to 70 Flights on Tuesday; Centre intervenes; DGCA seeks report

Vistara, which had a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the past few days primarily due to crew crunch, looks poised for more trouble. According to sources, Vistara has been facing pilot issues since the revision in monthly emoluments for first officers of its A320 fleet following the signing of new contracts.

Mumbai:The crisis-hit Vistara, which is crippled by shortage of crews and hit by protest against pay revision, looks in for more trouble as the number of cancelled flights which stood at 50 on Monday may see an uptick on Tuesday. The withdrawal number may touch up to 70 flights, sources in the know said.

As the crisis deepened, Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) sought a detailed report from Vistara regarding flight cancellations and major delays, with the airline having cancelled or delayed over 100 flights in the past week. Meanwhile, aviation watchdog DGCA has asked Vistara to submit a daily report on flight cancellations as well as delays, and is also monitoring the situation to ensure minimum inconvenience to passengers.

The move comes against the backdrop of non-availability of pilots forcing Vistara to cancel a significant number of flights in recent days. In a statement on Tuesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that in view of the various flight disruptions of Vistara, it has asked the airline to submit daily information and details on the flights that are being cancelled and delayed.

The officials of the DGCA are also monitoring the situation to ensure compliance with requirements for providing facilities to passengers in case of flight cancellations and delays. This is to minimise the inconvenience to passengers.

A day after Vistara airlines said that they are reducing the number of airlines as it faces cancellations and delays of over more than 100 flights in the last week, the Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday sought a detailed report from the airline over rampant flight cancellations and delays.

Vistara airlines for the past few days has been facing a lot of turbulence leading to the cancellations and delays of over 100 flights in the past one week which has invited a lot of criticism form the air passengers.

"We have had a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the past few days due to various reasons, including crew unavailability. We acknowledge and are deeply concerned about the inconvenience this has caused to our customers. Having said that, our teams are working towards minimising the discomfort to the customers," said a Vistara spokesperson.

He added, “We have decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights we operate to ensure adequate connectivity across our network. We have also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more number of customers, wherever possible."

What ails Vistara?

Vistara airlines which is all set to merge with Tata-backed Air India faced similar kind of disruptions last month as well. In early March, several pilots took sick leave as a form of protest against the revised contracts resulting from the merger.

Therefore, this protest has left the airline with less pilots which has led to this cancellations/disruption. As part of the new salary structure, Vistara pilots will receive a fixed salary for 40 hours of flying time instead of the current 70 hours. They will also be compensated for extra flying hours and will earn an additional amount as a reward based on their years of service with the airline but the pilots of Vistara Airlines were not happy with this schedule and started their protest.

The airline apologised for the disruptions but did not provide details on the number of flight cancellations. The spokesperson also said efforts are being made to stabilise the situation and that operations at regular capacity will resume very soon. The sources said Vistara has been facing pilot issues since the revision in monthly emoluments for first officers of its A320 fleet following the signing of new contracts.

The spokesperson said teams are working towards minimising the discomfort to the customers. We have decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights we operate, to ensure adequate connectivity across our network. Further, the airline has deployed larger aircraft like B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more number of customers, wherever possible.

One of the sources said first officers reporting sick have forced the airline to cancel flights as their salaries have been reduced significantly. The source claimed that some components of the salary have been reduced while incentives linked to flying hours have been raised.

Details about the number of daily flights operated by Vistara could not be immediately ascertained. In the ongoing summer schedule, Vistara will be operating 25.22 per cent more weekly flights at 2,324.

The spokesperson also said alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers are being offered and apologised for the disruptions. "We are working towards stabilising the situation and will resume operating our regular capacity very soon," the spokesperson added.(With agency inputs)