India‘s civil aviation ministry said on Tuesday it was monitoring a surge in flight cancellations by Vistara as the airline grapples with a shortage of pilots, while the aviation regulator has sought daily information on flight disruptions.
Vistara, owned by the Tata group and Singapore Airlines , cancelled over 50 flights on Monday, with around 160 delayed, news channel NDTV reported. It is likely to cancel up to 70 flights on Tuesday, according to local media reports.
The airline operates more than 300 flights a day, according to its website.
Airlines have to comply with the norms of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Indian aviation regulator, to ensure passenger facilitation in case of cancellations or delay of flights, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a post on X.
The DGCA has asked the airline to submit daily information and details on flights that are being cancelled and delayed.
Vistara did not comment when asked for details on flight disruptions.
Further, the airline has deployed larger aircraft like B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more number of customers, wherever possible. One of the sources said first officers reporting sick have forced the airline to cancel flights as their salaries have been reduced significantly. The source claimed that some components of the salary have been reduced while incentives linked to flying hours have been raised.
The airline had said on Monday that it was forced to cut a number of flights due to the pilot shortage and was using some of its larger aircraft to “accommodate more passengers.” An increasing number of Vistara pilots have reported sick, protesting a revised salary structure ahead of the full-service carrier’s merger with Tata-owned Air India, as per local media.
