Air India to Operate Flights on Behalf of AI Express to Mitigate Strike Woes

A strike from the cabin crew members of Air India Express has put the airline operations in turmoil. Around 250-300 cabin crew members belonging to the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) had previously voiced their concerns through a letter to the TATA Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the airline, Aloke Singh. After their voices went unheard, they went on an unplanned strike.

Air India Comes to Express Rescue

Because of the unplanned strike by a significant section of Air India Express cabin crew members, the airline was forced to cancel 90 flights on May 8 and around 85 flights on May 9. Overall, it canceled approximately 180 flights in the next two days and these cancellations will continue until operations normalize.

In a statement, the Low Cost Carrier said that Air India, the mainline carrier of TATA Group will be operating a few flights on behalf of Air India Express. On around 20 routes of Air India Express, Air India will be operating its narrowbody aircraft. In this way, the group is ensuring that a minimum number of passengers are affected by the disruption.

Both Air India and Air India Express are already codeshare partners. Air India has already placed its IATA Code: AI on all the flights of Air India Express on its booking portal.

In a communication, the airline said that affected passengers can either get a full refund or the airline may reschedule their flight for a later date.

What is the Latest With Cabin Crew Strike?

Air India, yesterday terminated more than 25 cabin crew members from their duties for taking part in the strike. Today, conciliation proceedings were held at the Chief Labour Commissioner’s Office in New Delhi. Members from Air India Express and Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) were present at the meeting. Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh (BMS) was heading the AIX Union.

After the meeting, the employees union has decided to end the strike. Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh has assured that operations will be normalized with all cabin crew on strike returning back to duty. In response, the airline management has agreed to take back the suspension of 25 cabin crew members. They have been directed to report to the airline office with their health & fitness certificates as soon as possible.

The issues raised by the cabin crew members will be heard by the airline committee later on. Earlier, Air India Express gave an ultimatum to all the employees on strike to return to work before 4 PM or else, they could face termination. Now, there is no need for such a warning. In my previous article, I said that this thing could be easily settled with proper discussion, and see, I was correct. One discussion and the majority of things are back in place.

Air India Always to The Rescue

This is not the first time that Air India has helped its sister airline by deploying its aircraft on IX routes. A week ago, a huge chunk of Vistara pilots went on a mass strike. They reported sick in mass numbers, resulting in the grounding of many flights. Many pilots left Vistara after the compensation and payment structure was altered by the airline, which had the potential to reduce the in-hand salary of pilots by half.

Following this, many narrowbody pilots were sent from Air India to Vistara. More than 30 pilots were transferred between Air India and Vistara. These pilots include Narrowbody pilots, who fly the Airbus A320 series. Already, Vistara had 24 Boeing 787 pilots from Air India operating its jets. This includes 16 Commanders and 8 First Officers.

Pilots on deputation need to undergo a 21-day ground training along with simulator and line training to understand the SOPs of the destination airline. Both Air India and Vistara despite having the same owners have separate SOPs and work standards. Recently, DGCA relieved the VP of Flight Training at Vistara from his duties. The aviation regulator found many faults in the conversion training of the pilots.

Conclusion

Air India Express has been hit with cabin crew members on strike. The airline had to cancel more than 180 flights within two days. As a result, parent airline Air India came to the rescue and will operate on at least 20 of the AIX routes to mitigate the disruption. The cabin crew strike has now ended and the suspended cabin crew members will be reinducted into the airline.

What do you think about this partnership between Air India and Air India Express? Discuss in the comments section.