A day after Vistara decided to temporarily curtail its daily flight schedule, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has sought a detailed report from the Tata group airline regarding the flight cancellations and major delays, an official told news agency ANI.
Over a hundred Vistara flights have been cancelled or delayed over the past week. Due to the “non-availability of crew”, Vistara has decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights it operates to “ensure adequate connectivity across our network”. It will also deploy larger aircraft on select domestic routes in order to combine flights.
“Furthermore, we are offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers, as applicable. Once again, we understand that these disruptions have caused immense discomfort to our customers, and sincerely apologise to them for the same. We are working towards stabilizing the situation and will resume operating our regular capacity very soon,” a Vistara spokesperson said.
As The Indian Express has reported earlier, sources state numerous Vistara pilots are not reporting to work to register their protest against the new pay structure that follows Tata group’s Air India — with which Vistara set to merge.
With the new pay structure, the pilots will be eligible for guaranteed pay for 40 hours, down from the 70 hours in their earlier contracts with the airline. This has led to fears that there could be a notable cut in the pilots’ take-home salaries.