Vistara Looks To Stabilise Flight Operations By This Weekend

Domestic air carrier Vistara is looking to stabilise its operations by this weekend amid an ongoing standoff with its pilots.

"We have had significant number of flight cancellations and delays owing to various operational reasons, and due to high utilisation of resources, there was limited room to cope with contingencies," Vistara said.

The airline is working actively to address issues and come up with resolutions, according to an official statement.

"We hope to stabilise our operations for the rest of April 2024 by this weekend... We thank our customers for their continued support and request for their patience as we work towards resolving this," it said.

To address these concerns, the airline has temporarily reduced the number of flights. Instead, it has deployed larger aircraft like the B787-9 DreamlinerTM and A321neo on select domestic routes. This would aid in accommodating more passengers.

It is also reaching out to all customers affected by delays and cancellations of flights over the last weekend and offering them e-funds/compensation.

Vistara's statement comes in response to several flight delays and cancellations over the last few days due to crew unavailability. This was because pilots sought sick leaves all at once, due to a revised salary system the airline was trying to implement ahead of its merger with Air India.

This structure slashed pilots' confirmed pay to 40 hours of flytime from the current 70 hours. It also required them to show up to work for at least 15 days in order to be eligible for 40 hours of flytime pay.

NDTV Profit reported that after this chaos, Vistara's chief executive officer, top management and HR addressed the pilots on Wednesday. The management assured that all issues would be resolved.

Even two pilot unions wrote to Tata Group Chairperson N Chandrasekaran, seeking resolution for Vistara pilots' grievances, on Thursday.