'PRE-MEDITATED': AIR INDIA EXPRESS TERMINATES CONTRACT OF SOME CABIN CREW MEMBERS AFTER MASS SICK LEAVE

New Delhi: Air India Express on Wednesday terminated contract of some of many senior cabin crew members who 'reported sick' causing disruption of flight operations. The airline, in its internal note to terminated employees, said that their act was "pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason".

"This is in reference to your employment with Air India Express Limited ("Company") in the capacity of Cabin Crew Executive. It has been reported that you were rostered for a flight on 07.05.2024. However, you informed the Scheduling team at the last moment that you were unwell and accordingly reporting sick. It is noted that at or around the same time, an overwhelming number of other cabin crew members have also reported sick and have not reported for their duties," the note read.

"This clearly points to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason. As a result of the above, a large number of flights had to be cancelled thereby disrupting the entire schedule, which caused tremendous inconvenience to the Company's esteemed passengers. Your act is not only subversive of public interest, but has also caused embarrassment, severe reputational damage, and serious monetary loss to the Company," it added.

Air India Express To Curtail Flight Ops For Next Few Days Amid Crew Crisis, MD Writes To Employees

The airline further added, "Your act is not only subversive of public interest, but has also caused embarrassment, severe reputational damage, and serious monetary loss to the Company. Your act of reporting sick for work amounts to a concerted action with a common understanding, to not operate the flight and to disrupt services of the Company. This is not only in violation of the applicable laws, but also violates the Air India Express Limited Employees' Service Rules as are applicable to you."

Air India Express MD's Letter:

Earlier in the day, Air India Express MD Aloke Singh wrote a letter addressing employees. He said that since Tuesday evening, over 100 cabin crew colleagues have reported sick prior to their rostered flight duty, at the last minute, severely disrupting our operations. Singh further stated. He said that due to the ongoing situation, Air India Express has curtailed flight operations for the next few days.

"Because this action was mostly by colleagues assigned L1 role, the impact was disproportionate, disrupting 90+ flights even though other colleagues reported for duty. The disruptions have cascaded across the network, forcing us to curtail the schedules over the next few days. We had to do this to cope with the non-availability of crew and to recover schedules," he said.

"This act is certainly not representative of the 2,000-odd cabin crew colleagues in the company who continue to respond to the call of duty and serve our guests with dedication and pride. I am thankful to all who are standing by the airline in this hour of crisis," the letter further read.

Air India Express Crisis:

Air India Express passengers faced chaos and inconvenience on Wednesday as 88 flights were either delayed or cancelled after a section of cabin crew members reported sick to protest against the alleged mismanagement by the airline. The protest, led to a shortage of cabin crew, causing disruptions across several airports, including Kochi, Calicut, and Bangalore.

(Reported by Nikhil Lakhwani)

2024-05-08T19:21:39Z dg43tfdfdgfd