Air India Express, the low-cost subsidiary of Air India, canceled 85 flights on Thursday, a day after operations were seriously disrupted by last-minute sick leave by dozens of cabin crew members.
Air India Express said in a statement that it had made “all possible efforts to minimize the inconvenience caused to its customers”, but was still forced to cancel 85 flights on Thursday.
Indian media attributed the number of sudden sick leaves to latent discontent among staff over new hiring and promotion policies imposed by new owner Tata.
“We invite our customers who have booked a flight with us to check whether their flight is affected by the disruption before going to the airport,” the company adds in its press release.
More than 90 other flights have been “disrupted” since Tuesday due to staff shortages, the airline said in a separate statement on Wednesday, without specifying whether they had been delayed or canceled.
According to its managing director, Aloke Singh, the airline is forced to reduce its flight schedules over the coming days.
“Since last night, more than 100 of our cabin crew colleagues have called in sick before reporting for flight duty, at the last minute, which has seriously disrupted our operations,” Mr. Singh said.
“This movement is certainly not representative of the approximately 2,000 airline cabin crew colleagues who continue to answer the call of duty,” he continued.
According to the press, the low-cost company has laid off at least 20 employees.
An Air India Express spokesperson said Thursday that the airline had taken “appropriate action against certain individuals” but did not provide further details.
“We are taking appropriate action against certain individuals because their actions have caused serious inconvenience to thousands of our customers,” the spokesperson added.
New Delhi’s airport saw scenes of chaos on Wednesday as passengers were unhappy waiting for information about delayed and canceled flights, Indian media reported.
