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AI hiring: 55% of IndiGo flights delayed as crew call in sick
DGCA probes the matter as a huge number of staff took leave on Air India’s hiring day
Fifty-five percent of IndiGo’s domestic flights were delayed on Saturday as a significant number of cabin crew members took sick leave, with sources in the industry saying they ostensibly went for an Air India recruitment drive.
When asked about this, Arun Kumar, who heads the aviation regulator DGCA, said on Sunday, “We are looking into this.” The phase-2 of Air India’s recruitment drive was conducted on Saturday and a majority of IndiGo’s cabin crew members who took sick leave went for it, the sources in the industry sources added.
IndiGo, India’s largest airline, currently operates approximately 1,600 flights —domestic and international—daily. IndiGo and Air India did not respond to PTI’s requests for statements on the matter.
According to the ministry of civil aviation’s website, 45.2% of IndiGo’s domestic flights operated on time on Saturday.
In comparison, the on-time performances of Air India, SpiceJet, Vistara, Go First and AirAsia India was 77.1%, 80.4%, 86.3%, 88% and 92.3%, respectively, on Saturday. IndiGo CEO Ronjoy Dutta had on 8 April told employees through an email that raising salaries is a difficult and thorny issue but the airline will constantly review and adjust wages based on its profitability and the competitive environment. IndiGo had on 4 April suspended a few pilots who were planning to organize a strike on Tuesday to protest against the pay cuts that were implemented during the peak of the covid-19 pandemic. The Tata Group took control of Air India on 27 January, after successfully winning the bid for the airline on 8 October last year. Air India plans to buy new planes and improve its services, and it recently started a recruitment drive for fresh cabin crew members. During the peak of the pandemic, Indigo had slashed the salaries of its pilots by as much as 30%.
On 1 April this year, the airline announced its decision to increase the salaries of pilots by 8%. It said that another hike of 6.5% will be implemented from November onwards in case there are no disruptions. However, a section of pilots remained unsatisfied and decided to organize a strike.
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First Published:3 Jul 2022, 11:50 PM IST
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