Air India Express grounds 80 flights amid cabin crew protest over HR practices

Late last month, a union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew alleged that the airline is being mismanaged

Air India Express has canceled 80 flights starting May 7 as more than 200 cabin crew have reported sick protesting against the airline’s Human Resources (HR) practices against alleged mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned airline.

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 process of merger of AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself.

"A section of our cabin crew reported sick at the last minute, starting last night, resulting in flight delays and cancellations. While we are engaging with the crew to understand the reasons behind these occurrences, our teams are actively addressing this issue to minimise any inconvenience caused to our guests as a result," the airline said in a statement on May 8.

Air India Express added it will offer affected passengers a full refund or complimentary rescheduling to another date.

The sources on Wednesday said several cabin crew members started reporting sick since Monday evening and as there are not enough cabin crew members, ”scores of flights” have been cancelled at various airports, including Kochi, Calicut and Bangalore.

Late last month, a union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew alleged that the airline is being mismanaged and there is a lack of equality in the treatment of the staff.

Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU), a registered union, which claims to represent around 300 cabin crew members, mostly seniors, had also alleged that mismanagement of the affairs has affected the morale of the employees.

According to the letter sent to N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata group in April, various allowances, including HRA, which were part of the compensation prior to the merger have been removed. This has resulted in significant salary cuts despite the airline consistently posting profits, it added.

"There is a glaring lack of equality in the treatment of employees. Salaries, experience and merits are being disregarded, with internal job postings now being filled by candidates external to Air India Express, bypassing qualified internal candidate,” the letter said.

The Air India Express management had a town hall meeting with its cabin crew on May 2 to express concerns raised by the unions. However, a resolution has not been reached so far.

Many passengers took to social media on Wednesday complaining about the sudden cancellation of flights.

In response to a passenger’s post on X about flight cancellation, Air India Express apologised and said the flight was cancelled ”due to operational reasons”. ”As part of our service recovery process, you can either opt to reschedule the flight within the next 7 days or request a full refund through our chat bot Tia…,” the airline said in a post on X.

The development at Air India Express comes a month after Tata Group full-service carrier Vistara witnessed pilot woes, forcing it to temporarily cut down capacity by 10 percent or 25-30 flights daily. As part of consolidating its airline business, Tata Group is merging Air India Express and AIX Connect, as well as Vistara with Air India.

[With inputs from Press Trust of India (PTI)]