New Delhi: The Air India Express Union wrote a second letter to the Central Labour Commissioner on May 21, requesting his intervention in its ongoing operational crisis.
According to the letter written by KK Vijayakumar who is the AIX Employees Union President addressed to the Central Labour Commissioner, Onkar Sharma, "As per the conclusion of the conciliation, all cabin crew reported back for flying duties by May 10, 2024. However, it is shocking and surprising to note that many flights are still being cancelled over delays citing crew constraints."
"Upon inquiry, it has come to our notice that the operations department lost cabin crew data due to the transition from old software ARMS to the new (CAE) app managed by the scheduling department. The concerned department has asked the crew to submit their details for updating the data in the new system.,i.e., CAE", it mentioned.
It further read that additionally, more than 100 cabin crew members have been sitting idle, without flying duties for the last two months due to the non-availability of Airport Entry Passes. "And to cover up daily flight cancellations and delays, cabin crew are manually assisting the scheduling department base-wise. The cabin crew are doing their utmost to restore and operate flights on time for public convenience. Furthermore, the reduced number of departures is adversely affecting the cabin crew's salaries," it read.
People aware of the matter told ETV Bharat that "After the Delhi Labour Commissioner intervened followed by a meeting between him, management and the protesting staffers, the protest was called off as we were given assurances including the withdrawal of 25 crew members who were earlier suspended. Even now, we are witnessing several issues related to the rostering system."
A crew member of AIX on anonymity said, "We called off our protest on May 9 and everyone joined the very next day. But soon after we joined, the airline came up with a new application for the rostering system. Now, we are using this new app called CEA app but the problem is that the airline has lost all the previous data which was there in the previous app."
She further added that "Now, the crew members themselves (from the respective bases) are helping each other by letting the people know who all are available. The management hasn't been able to solve this issue yet. They are even calling crew members who are not even at the bases. Similarly, people who have just did a flight, they're rostering another flight for them as the management itself is unaware regarding who all are available."
Another staffer told ETV that "Often crew members don't even have the airport entry pass which has to be arranged by the airline. Such incidences are leading to cancellations and delays and as far as I know, more than 350 flights have been cancelled between May 10-20 because of this."
Similarly, when being asked to comment on this, an AIX official on anonymity said that the cancellations going on are a ripple effect of cancellations last month. "No inconvenience to passengers because they are being informed in advance and this is happening mostly on domestic routes," she said.
The ongoing development comes nearly two weeks after the airline witnessed disruptions due to a section of cabin crew reporting sick to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the carrier. The strike was called off on May 9 after the meeting at Delhi's Labour Commissioner and the crew members who were on strike joined back duty on May 10.
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