Ministry seeks report as Vistara cancels scores of flights over pilot crisis

Vistara seems to have flown into turbulence over its pay revision, with several flights being reportedly cancelled over the non-availability of pilots, who are protesting against a salary cut.

Flooded with complaints, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has sought a detailed report from Vistara regarding flight cancellations and delays, news agency ANI quoted a senior official as saying.

The carrier had to cancel more than 50 flights on Monday (April1) and the number of flights to be cancelled on Tuesday can go up to 70, sources in the know told PTI.

MoCA seeks report

On Tuesday morning, at least 38 Vistara flights from key cities were cancelled, NDTV reported. Of these, 15 were to take off from Mumbai, 12 from Delhi, and 11 from Bengaluru.

More than 50 Vistara flights were cancelled on Monday and around 160 delayed.

“We have sought a detailed report from Vistara regarding flight cancellations and delays,” a senior MoCA official told ANI.

In early March, too, Vistara flights from Delhi and Mumbai were impacted, mainly due to shortage of pilots, reported ANI.

Submit daily report on flight cancellations: DGCA tells carrier

Aviation watchdog DGCA has also asked the airlines to submit a daily report on flight cancellations as well as delays and is also monitoring the situation to ensure minimum inconvenience to passengers.

In a statement issued 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.

Salary cut?

Sources told PTI that Vistara has been facing pilot issues since the revision in monthly emoluments for first officers of its A320 fleet following signing of new contracts. Their salaries have been reduced significantly, while incentives linked to flying hours have been raised, the sources said.

In protest, many first officers have been reporting sick, forcing the carrier to temporarily reduce flight operations, they added.

The airline is in the process of merging with Air India.

Official statement

A Vistara spokesperson has said the airline has had a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the past few days due to various reasons, including crew unavailability.

“We have decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights we operate, to ensure adequate connectivity across our network,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

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.

Measures taken

The spokesperson said teams are working towards minimising the discomfort to the customers. Furthermore, the airline has deployed larger aircraft such as the B787-9 Dreamliner and the A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more customers, wherever possible.

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

The spokesperson also said alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers are being offered. “We are working towards stabilising the situation and will resume operating our regular capacity very soon,” the spokesperson added.