Air India Express to reinstate employees after talks with union

Bengaluru/New Delhi: Air India Express, on Thursday, cancelled a further 85 flights, but closed the day with successful talks with the employees union, agreeing to reinstate the 25 cabin crew members it had sacked, and all those who had taken mass sick leave agreeing to return to work.

This comes a day after Air India’s low-cost subsidiary cancelled more than 90 flights as cabin crews started reporting sick in protest against alleged mismanagement. Late on Wednesday, the airline is learnt to have sacked some of the employees.

The government’s Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) Onkar Sharma, who on Thursday called for a ‘conciliation’ meeting between the airline and the Air India Express Employees Union, is affiliated to the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh. 

After five hours of deliberation, peace was brokered, though there will be another meeting on May 28 to further discuss issues between the employees and the management.

“The representatives of the union agreed that all the cabin crew members who have reported sick will report for duty with fitness certificate immediately… The management agreed to reinstate 25 crew who have been terminated on May 7 and 8 for reporting sick as a concerted action immediately,” said an official update signed by Sharma.

Earlier in the day, the airline did not directly mention the sacking but said in a statement that it is taking appropriate steps against certain individuals as their actions have caused grave inconvenience to thousands of passengers.

"While we will continue to engage with our cabin crew colleagues with a commitment to address any concern, we are taking appropriate steps against certain individuals as their actions have caused grave inconvenience to thousands of our guests," it said.

"We will be operating 283 flights today. We have mobilised all resources and Air India will support us by operating on 20 of our routes. However, 85 of our flights stand cancelled," it said.

The cancellation on Thursday accounted for around 23% of the Tata Group-owned airline's daily flights of 368 as per the summer schedule.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation called for a report from the airline regarding cancellation of flights and asked them to resolve issues promptly. The airline has also been advised to ensure facilities to passengers as per guidelines.

The protest in Air India Express, which is being merged with AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia India), comes almost a month after pilots of sister-airline Vistara went on protest over salary structure, leading to cutting down capacity by 25-30 flights daily for some days.

The merger process has led to discontent among a section of cabin crew with sources claiming that around 200 cabin crew have reported sick since Tuesday night as part of their protest.