Government requests report from AI Express on mass flight cancellations; orders that the problem be “resolved expeditiously”

NEW DELHI: After Vistara, crew problems have forced another Tata group airline – Air India Express – to cancel nearly 80 flights since Tuesday and Wednesday midnight. While Vistara – which will soon merge with Air India – saw unrest among pilots last month, senior cabin crew at AI Express – which will once have merged with AirAsia India – are angry over the new conditions of job. Sources say 300 cabin crew members have called in sick en masse since midnight and turned off their phones. The budget airline asked passengers scheduled to fly on Wednesday “to check whether their flight is affected, before going to the airport.”

AI Express operates approximately 200 daily flights, most of them international. The cancellation of nearly 80 so far means 40% of the schedule is impacted.

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“Some of our cabin crew called in sick at the last minute, as early as last night, which led to flight delays and cancellations. While we speak with crew to understand the reasons for these events, our teams are actively addressing this issue to minimize any inconvenience caused to our guests,” said an AI Express spokesperson.

“We sincerely apologize to our customers for this unexpected disruption and emphasize that this situation does not reflect the level of service we strive to provide. Customers affected by cancellations will be offered a full refund or free rescheduling to another date. Passengers traveling with us today are asked to check whether their flight is affected before traveling to the airport,” the spokesperson added.

Complaints from passengers are pouring in on social networks. “…horrible service. The scheduled departure of IX 974 Bengaluru to Pune at 9:50 p.m. was initially delayed by 50 minutes to 10:40 p.m. Now delayed again by 1 hour 5 minutes at 11:45 p.m.!! Food arrangements? I have three children traveling with me,” said Nitin Jain, a passenger on X from his handle @palindromename at 10:37 p.m. on Tuesday.

Another passenger, Benoy Jose, said from his X handle @BenoyJose810300 at 11:24 p.m. on Tuesday, “Be a little responsible, waiting for flight IX955 from Hyderabad to Cochin since 6 p.m. AI (Express) staff are completely unaware of the status of the flight. The flight has still not taken off from Bangalore. I changed doors three times, from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. then at 107 a.m. Waiting at the airport with children.

Airline mergers have not been easy globally, with India being no exception due to serious reasons such as different work cultures. Three megamergers: Indian Airlines into Air India; Sahara in Jet and Deccan in Kingfisher – attempts in 2006-2007 were disasters, with Jet and Kingfisher subsequently closing down. Air India was privatized and returned to its founder Tata Group in January 2022 along with AI Express.

Before acquiring these two airlines, Tatas already owned as many airlines: full-service Vistara and low-cost AirAsia India. The salt-to-satellite conglomerate is merging full-service Vistara into AI and low-budget AirAsia India into AI Express. Since AI is still both old AI and old AI, the Tatas are effectively merging five airlines simultaneously while attempting the most difficult (Maharaja’s) airline turnaround in aviation history. While not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination, Tatas achieving this is crucial for Indian aviation as the country gears up to become mega hubs and needs its own mega airlines thriving companies like IndiGo and Tata Group AI.