Vistara to cancel dozens of flights today amid shortage of crew, pilots; Delhi, Mumbai among routes affected

Private carrier Vistara is expected to cancel dozens of flights on Tuesday, April 2, a day after it cancelled at least 50 flights citing the shortage of crew and pilots. The flights that are to be affected due to the disruption include those taking off from key routes such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, reports said.

Till the early hours of the day, the airline had cancelled at least 38 flights, NDTV reported. The list of cancellations include 11 flights that were to originate from Bengaluru, 12 from Mumbai and 15 from New Delhi, the news channel said.

The airline is likely to cancel around 60 flights by the end of the day, the Times of India reported, citing sources. The aviation company, while acknowledging the massive flight cancellations recorded on April 1, said it would be deploying large aircraft on some routes to accommodate the stranded passengers.

Vistara will use the wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliner on select routes "to accommodate more passengers, wherever possible," a spokesperson of the carrier was reported as saying.

Why is Vistara cancelling flights?

“We have had a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the past few days due to various reasons including crew unavailability,” the Vistara spokesperson reportedly said.

As per reports, the reason behind the crew and pilots shortage is their absence from work to protest against the company’s move to a new pay structure.

The airline, jointly owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, is aligning its pay structure with that of Air India – another Tata-owned carrier. This has sparked discontent among scores of pilots and crew members, who did not show up for work on April 1, ostensibly to mark their protest, the Indian Express reported.

Vistara’s spokesperson, in a statement issued to the newspaper, did not confirm the reason behind the crew’s absence from work. However, the spokesperson noted that the airline was taking measures to “stabilise the situation” and resume regular operations soon.

Aviation ministry monitoring situation

The Ministry of Civil Aviation, after taking cognisance of reports of flight cancellations by Vistara, said it is "monitoring the situation".

"However, flight operations are managed by Airlines themselves. Airlines have to comply with DGCA norms to ensure passenger facilitation in case of cancellation or delay of flights," it posted on X.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) also issued a statement, noting that it has asked Vistara to to submit daily information and details on the flights that are being cancelled and delayed.