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Air India Express, a budget airline owned by Air India, has been forced to cancel over 80 international and domestic flights due to a large number of senior cabin crew members calling in sick.
The mass sick leave began on Monday evening, and as of Wednesday morning, flights have been cancelled at various airports across India, including Kochi, Calicut, and Bangalore.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has sought a report on the cancellations and has asked the airline to ensure that passengers are provided with the necessary facilities as per the norms laid down by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) has written to the Chairman of Air India, Natarajan Chandrashekharan, raising concerns about the current situation at the airline and alleging mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned carrier.
The union claims that the airline is being mismanaged and that there is a lack of equality in the treatment of staff, which has affected the morale of employees.
Many passengers have taken to social media to complain about the sudden cancellation of flights, with some reporting that they were not informed of the cancellations until they arrived at the airport.
Passengers at Kannur International Airport were seen staging a protest due to the sudden cancellation of Air India Express flights.
DPAP chief and former Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad was among the passengers who suffered due to Air India flight cancellations.
Azad, whose Delhi-Srinagar flight was also cancelled, said, “I was supposed to leave in the morning. But I am now leaving on an IndiGo flight after sitting here for 3-4 hours.
If the flights were cancelled, they should have informed us in the morning itself. Why did they fool everyone? Air India should be shut. Air India’s basic culture is bad, nothing will become of it.”