Troubles in the Sky: Vistara’s Massive Flight Cancellations

The premium air carrier of India, Vistara is facing a crisis as they are forced to cancel flights at large, passengers are not happy as some are made to wait more than 6 hours before any official communication while they’re stranded at the airport.

Why are there mass cancellations in Vistara?

Vistara said that the non-availability of the crew forced them towards flight cancellations, and the airline decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights to ensure there’s enough supply for demand but this only shows the problem at the surface level.

Vistara pilots reportedly took ‘sick leaves’ at mass to protest against the new pay structure. The revised pay structure was introduced before the merger happens with Air India. The revised pay structure reduces guaranteed pay hours from 70 to 40 hours, this change raised concerns about pilots’ take-home salaries as the new pay structure could’ve resulted in a pay cut greater than 50%.

What’s Vistara doing about this?

There is no official statement if Vistara is willing to walk back on their introduced pay structure but Vistara says they would resume operations at the regular volume very soon. While trying to calm the situation down at the passengers’ end to not cause them greater inconvenience, Vistara has deployed larger capacity aircraft like the B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on a few domestic routes, Vistara has also clarified that they’re offering alternative flight options and refunds to the affected customers.

DGCA’s oversight

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has taken notice of the situation and asked Vistara to submit daily reports on flight cancellations and delays, DGCA has also told Vistara to comply with provisions of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) Section-3, Series M, Part-IV “facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights”. DGCA officials are monitoring the situation and overlooking the implementation of CAR provisions to minimise passenger inconvenience.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has also taken an interest in the issue to better understand the matter, aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has summoned the airline, asking for a response on what is being done to address the situation, the airline also has been asked to provide complete details on the impact caused on flight operations.

Conclusion: The situation is such that as long as pilots are unavailable or still in protest, the problems in Vistara are bound to persist, there are no specifics or official commentary over the regular operations but assessing the situation there could be more flight cancellations before things go back to normal.

Disclaimer: This blog has been written exclusively for educational purposes. The securities mentioned are only examples and not recommendations. It is based on several secondary sources on the internet and is subject to changes. Please consult an expert before making related decisions.