The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vistara, Vinod Kannan, said today (April 6) that the airline hopes to stabilise operations for the rest of April 2024 by this weekend, as 98 per cent of pilots have signed the new pay contract. The airline said it has been reaching out to all customers affected by the delays and cancellations to offer relevant refunds and compensation.
“With reference to concerns being raised regarding the new pay structure of our pilots, we would like to clarify that over 98 per cent of pilots have signed the new contract. Having said that, we are aware that some pilots have some concerns and queries regarding the contract,” the CEO said in a statement.
A significant number of Vistara pilots had taken sick leave following the announcement of new salary rules, which coincided with the merger with Air India. The pilot shortage issue stemmed from pay cuts implemented after new flying hours regulations came into effect recently. Due to crew shortages earlier this week, the full service carrier experienced severe operational disruptions and numerous flights were cancelled.
Vistara CEO on resolving concerns amid crisis
The Vistara CEO also informed that the airline is engaging with pilots to clarify and resolve their concerns.
“We are engaging with them to clarify and resolve the same,” added Kannan.
He asserted that this ongoing issue has not caused any visible spike in attrition amongst pilots. Vistara has apologised to the public after the airline cancelled a significant number of flights during the past few days.
“We acknowledge that the recent experience of our customers fell short of the standards that we hold ourselves to and we sincerely apologise for the same,” Vistara said in a statement posted on its official X handle.
The airline said it had to cancel and delay a significant number of flights owing to “various operational reasons” and “high utilisation of resources.” There was limited room to cope with contingencies. It further said it was addressing this issue on a war footing. Over 200 Vistara flights were affected- either cancelled or delayed- over the past two weeks.
On Tuesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked Vistara Airlines to submit daily reports about flight operations and follow the Civil Aviation Regulations (CAR).
“First and foremost, we have temporarily reduced the number of flights we operate and also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 DreamlinerTM and A321 neo on select domestic routes to accommodate more customers, wherever possible. Furthermore, we are reaching out to all customers affected by the delays and cancellations over the last weekend, to offer relevant refunds and compensation,” Vistara said.”We would like to assure our customers that we will live up to the Vistara experience that they have come to expect from us over the years. We thank our customers for their continued support and request for their patience as we work towards resolving this,” the airline added.
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