Air India Express cancellations: Monopolistic routes to be worst hit

After Vistara faced difficulties due to network disruption in the first week of May, another Tata Group airline, Air India Express, is now facing a major disruption. Some of its cabin crew called in sick at the last minute starting yesterday evening, leading to delays and cancellations, the airline’s statement read. Air India Express will see the erstwhile AirAsia India (now AIX Connect) merge into itself. The airline has been on an integration spree with 11 MAX 8 aircraft inducted so far in 2024.

Data provided by Cirium – an aviation analytics company, exclusively for this article, shows that Air India Express has 778 domestic and 412 international departures per week. Flights from Kochi, Kannur and Bengaluru are mainly affected.

In March, the airline carried an average of 10,900 domestic passengers per day and 14,741 international passengers per day. Even if not all flights are canceled, a significant number of them will be affected by this threat.

What happened?

More than 50 flights have been canceled and many have been delayed since midnight as the airline saw its crew call in sick and fail to show up at the airport. Last-minute illness reports led the airline to delay flights due to crew unavailability and try to find replacement crew. The scale of the crisis would have led to cancellations and therefore complaints for flight delays followed by cancellations.

Mass furloughs have also been used by staff in the past to disrupt operations and this has happened in a way that does not resemble industrial action but is organized informally.

Monopolized international routes leave passengers with little choice

The airline operates 87 unique city pairs internationally, of which 37, or 42%, are monopoly routes. Any cancellation leaves passengers at the mercy of the airline, with no direct option until the next day or sometimes for the next two days, as much of the network from South India to the Gulf includes non-daily flights for the airline Aerial. On domestic routes, the airline carries out activities that overlap with those of the group’s carriers as well as those of the competition.

While all routes are important and passengers travel for a reason, Gulf routes present additional complexity for passengers making the most of the holiday season and delays in returning to work can result in lengthy explanations. .

What future for passengers?

Air India Express is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India. Will the parent company step in and offer capacity with widebody aircraft to clear the passenger backlog or route them through hubs? There are some stations where Air India does not operate as well.

The airline’s official statement calls on passengers to check the status of their flight before heading to the airport and further pledges a full refund or free rescheduling. Domestically, all airlines operate high load factors, leaving little opportunity for passengers to take last-minute flights, which could also lead to a sudden increase in fares due to the demand crunch .

Passengers should immediately check whether their flights are operating on the Air India Express website or call center. It is unclear how soon the airline will process refunds or welcome passengers back on flights in the following days.

Long way to go

The incident once again highlights that the Tata Group has a long way to go in the aviation space with back-to-back issues at Vistara and Air India Express. The airline had planned to merge AirAsia India with Air India Express and Vistara with Air India a long time ago. Various regulatory approvals have taken time and there are few hurdles to clear.

One of the major problems has been the differences in salaries as well as changes in the terms and conditions of their employment contract. The airline has had to reverse its decisions regarding sharing rooms on layovers in the past. It is unclear what the current requirements are for protesting and reporting illness.

For Air India Group to take over IndiGo, mere orders and network expansion will not be enough as they need to ensure smooth operations. Such incidents put pressure on the market situation with passengers thinking twice before booking in the future. How long will it take for the problem to be resolved? Ideally, soon, but as in the case of Vistara, the cancellations have been prolonged, which has impacted the results. How will this work out for Air India Express?