Aviation

Air India Express on Friday cancelled around 75 flights due to cabin crew shortage and operations are expected to normalise by Sunday, an official said.

The development comes a day after a section of the cabin crew called off their strike, that had resulted in significant operational disruptions.

The revenue losses caused due to the flight cancellations and compensation to passengers are anticipated to be around Rs 30 crore, the official told PTI. 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.

On Saturday, the number of flight cancellations are expected to be around 45-50, the official added.

Heavy rain and strong winds disrupted flight services in Bengaluru, causing several flights to be diverted, including international passenger flights, officials at the Kempegowda International Airport said on Friday.

"Heavy rainfall accompanied by strong winds rendered the airport inaccessible for landing between 9.35 pm and 10.29 pm, leading to diversion of flights," a BIAL official said in a statement.

As many as 13 domestic flights, three international passenger flights, and one international cargo flight were diverted to Chennai on Thursday, he added.  

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, according to sources.

A section of the cabin crew started reporting sick from Tuesday night to protest 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 reconciliation meeting between the representatives of cabin crew and the airline management at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in Delhi 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. There will be another meeting on May 28 to resolve grievances. 

A section of Air India Express cabin crew has decided to withdraw the strike and resume duty after the airline assured to look into all the issues raised by the cabin crew, sources said on Thursday.

Besides, the airline has agreed to withdraw the termination letters issued to 25 cabin crew and the management will review the cases as per service regulations, they added. The Tata Group-owned airline has cancelled more than 170 flights since Tuesday night after the cabin crew started reporting sick to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the airline.

The decisions to withdraw the strike and the termination letters were agreed upon during the conciliation meeting between the cabin crew representatives and the airline representatives at the Office of the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) in the national capital on Thursday.

Air India Express on Thursday cancelled 85 flights or 23% of the total daily capacity as the cabin crew shortage continued for the third day. 

Since Tuesday night when a section of cabin crew started reporting sick to protest against alleged mismanagement, the airline has cancelled more than 170 flights, including those to Gulf nations. The Tata Group-owned airline issued termination letters to around 25 cabin crew who are on strike.

In efforts to minimise disruptions, Air India Express has also decided to curtail flights till May 13 and Air India will operate services on 20 routes of the airline.

An airline source said that around 250 cabin crew reported sick on Thursday. Without directly mentioning about the termination letters, the airline on Thursday said it is taking appropriate steps against certain individuals as their actions have caused grave inconvenience to thousands of passengers.

Discontent has been brewing among a section of staff at Air India Express after the start of the process to merge 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.

The carrier has asked passengers to check if their flight is affected by the disruption before heading to the airport. If the flight is cancelled, or delayed beyond three hours, they may opt for a full refund or reschedule to a later date without any fees, it added.

Faced with cabin crew shortage, Air India Express on Thursday cancelled 74 flights and said Air India will operate services on 20 of its routes to minimise disruptions.

The number of cancelled flights translates to around 20% of the airline's scheduled daily flights.

A section of cabin crew has reported sick to protest against alleged mismanagement at the airline, which has resulted in the cancellation of over 90 flights since Tuesday night. The airline said in a statement, “In case their flight is cancelled or delayed beyond three hours, the carrier said the passengers may opt for a full refund or reschedule to a later date without any fees.”

Earlier in the day, sources said the airline has issued termination notices to 25 cabin crew members who had reported sick and asked others to join back for duty by 4 pm on Thursday.

Against this backdrop, Air India Express said it is taking appropriate steps against certain individuals.

Air India Express has fired at least 25 cabin crew members who did not report to work amid mass sick leaves taken by them, according to a report in ANI.

On Wednesday, over 100 Air India Express flights were cancelled after more than 200 crew members reported sick en masse to protest alleged mismanagement of the Tata group airline. The civil aviation ministry has asked for a report from the airline about the issue, while also asking it to resolve the problem promptly. 

Air India Express has been forced to curtail its schedule of the next several days due to non-availability of cabin crew in adequate numbers after over a hundred crew members called in sick since Tuesday evening.

The airline’s managing director Aloke Singh also told employees that all communication channels with the airline’s leadership are open for any concern that needs to be addressed. A town hall will be held today in an evident bid to defuse the crisis, Indian Express’ sources said. The airline is yet to give details of the curtailed flight schedule. The Air India Express-AIX Connect combine operates over 350 daily flights and has flexibility to go up to around 400 daily flights as per summer schedule for this year. 

A FedEx Airlines Boeing 767 cargo plane made an emergency landing at Istanbul Airport on Wednesday after its front landing gear failed to deploy, according to a Turkish Transport Ministry official. Fortunately, there were no casualties reported, and authorities have initiated an investigation into the incident.

The aircraft, arriving from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, communicated with the control tower in Istanbul regarding the malfunctioning landing gear and successfully touched down under tower guidance, managing to stay on the runway, as per a ministry statement. Although airport rescue and firefighting teams were alerted prior to the landing, there were no injuries reported. The ministry has yet to disclose the cause of the landing gear failure.

The involved aircraft is a nearly decade-old Boeing 767 freighter, a common type used for cargo transportation, based on the 767 passenger model developed in the 1980s.