DGCA seeks daily report from Vistara on flight cancellation

The aviation sector regulator, DGCA has asked Vistara to submit a daily report on flight cancellations and delays. On Monday Vistara cancelled close to 50 flights as several pilots reported sick. The DGCA is monitoring the situation.

A day after the carrier announced reducing operations due to non-availability of crew and other operational reasons, some commanders as well as first officers of its A320 fleet reportedly called in sick. The pilots and commanders protesting the pay revisions due to signing of new contracts.

DGCA is also monitoring the situation to ensure compliance with rules to provide facilities to passengers in case of flight cancellations and delays. This is to minimise the inconvenience to passengers, the regulator said.

Several passengers have taken to social media to complain about flight delays and cancellations.
In recent weeks, discontent has been simmering among pilots at Vistara, which is in the process of getting merged with Air India, following the new contracts wherein there are concerns that fixed pay component is getting reduced and there is more flying-linked incentive in the salary structure.

The new contracts that will bring parity between pilots of Vistara and Air India have been introduced as part of the ongoing merger process.
Vistara is a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.
Many first officers of Vistara’s A320 fleet have been reporting sick in the past few weeks and on Monday alone, around 50 flights were cancelled and many were delayed as there were not enough pilots to operate flights.

In a statement on Monday, Vistara said it had a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the past few days due to various reasons, including crew unavailability.

The airline has also decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights, to ensure adequate connectivity across its network.

Further, the airline has deployed larger aircraft like B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more customers, wherever possible.

(With inputs from PTI)