Vistara pilots have pressed on the exhaustion issues that they face due to operating on the edge of their maximum flying hours. Their statement came hours after the airline said that it hoped for its flight operations to return to normalcy over the weekend.
“Pilots are flying at the edge of their maximum flight duty limitations. This is causing major health issues and everyone is falling sick frequently," NDTV reported citing sources.
Vistara has been hit by an increase in its flight cancellations due to shortage of pilots. The airline’s pilots having been calling in sick, protesting over the revised contracts following Vistara’s merger with Tata’s Air India.
However, the allegations of coordinating and going on a mass sick leave has been dismissed by the sources. “Everyone is just tired from flying. The new FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) rules should have given us some relief but as expected that is also not happening," they were quoted as saying.
The airline, on the other hand, has told its protesting pilots that salaries for “extra working hours" will be credited post-integration with Air India’s roster and asked them to call off the strike, Moneycontrol reported citing sources.
As many as 26 flights were cancelled on Wednesday by the airline due to non-availability of crew.
Vistara Top Brass Hold Virtual Meeting With Pilots
Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan, along with other top officials of the airline, held a virtual meeting with the pilots to discuss their problems on Wednesday.
Notably, Vistara did not give any official statement over the meeting with the pilots.
Sources, however, said that the flight operations are returning to normalcy and the number of flight cancellations has come down, adding that the airline has assured the pilots of resolving the rostering and stretched working hours issue by May.
Vistara, which is in the process of getting merged with Air India, has around 1,000 pilots, including about 200 who are at various stages of training.
DGCA Seeks Daily Report From Vistara
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation asked Vistara to submit daily report on flight cancellations and delays as the airline cancelled over 50 flights for a second straight day on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is closely monitoring the situation of Vistara’s flight cancellation, even though the operations are managed by the airlines themselves.
Vistara has been asked to ensure that the relevant provisions of CAR Section-3, Series M, Part-IV on “Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights" are complied with like advance information, an option of refund, compensation (if applicable) etc. to the passengers.
The airline had said that due to the limited flight operations, it was using so
(With PTI inputs)
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