Vistara will will scale back its network temporarily following two days of disruption that resulted in cancellation of over 100 flights.
The airline’s chief executive officer Vinod Kannan met the airline pilots on Wednesday to assuage their concerns. While thanking pilots for their support, Kannan assured them that rosters will be looked into for better work-life balance.
“Rosters are also being worked on high priority,” Kannan said. The airline had optimised its network to a large extent, but not enough buffer was kept for pilots.
While sources said pilots abstained from work in protest against the new pay structure, Kannan said there has been no significant rise in sick reporting by pilots.
The airline is trying to bring more resilience in its network and assuring customers so as to regain their trust. The situation is improving, cancellations have halved and on-time performance increased to 70 per cent, Kannan said.
DGCA takes note
On Tuesday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed Vistara to send daily reports on flight cancellations and delays as mass sick leave by its pilots disrupted the airline operations.
The civil aviation regulator also instructed Vistara to refund or compensate passengers for impacted flights as per regulations. In a statement, the DGCA said its officials are monitoring the situation to ensure compliance of regulations and minimise passenger inconvenience.