Vistara Airlines confirms flight cancellations, delays: ‘Teams tirelessly working to …’

Vistara airlines has been facing a number of flight cancellations and delays in the last few days due to various operational reasons, an airline spokesperson said. Nearly 50 Vistara flights were cancelled on Monday and it will cancel more flights over the next few days owing to unavailability of pilots and other factors, the airline said.

Vistara is currently undergoing a merger with Air India. As part of the transition, the two airlines were brought under a uniform pay structure from March. As per the new structure, Vistara pilots will get a fixed salary for 40 hours of flying instead of the previous 70 hours. They will receive also payment in lieu of extra flying hours and rewards based on their years of service with the airline. "The pilots at Vistara have been disappointed with the new pay policy as this effectively brings down their salaries," a person aware of the development said.

The airline said, “We acknowledge and are deeply concerned about the inconvenience this has caused to our customers. Having said that, our teams are working towards minimizing the discomfort to the customer.”

The airline has deployed larger aircraft such as B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights and accommodate more passengers wherever possible. It is also offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers.

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“We confirm that we have had a number of flight cancellations and unavoidable delays in the last few days due to various operational reasons. Our teams are tirelessly working to stabilise the situation,” ANI quoted a Vistara spokesperson as saying.

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The clarification by the Tata-owned company has come amid huge criticism of the airline on social media for long flight delays and cancellations. Multiple social media users shared their experience of flight delays (as long as 5 hours) over the past few days. Many complained about incomplete refund by the company after flight cancellations.

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Social media users vent their anger

Several people shared their unpleasant experiences on social media.

“Not surprised - Vistara has been on a path of steady deterioration. Shows you that no Indian brand - not even the Tatas can maintain quality. Today Vistara is run worse than any government nationalised airline. Heck Air Koryo was better service,” wrote Abhijit Iyer-Mitra.

Calling incomplete ticket refund after flight cancellations as “new way to cheat,” another social media user wrote, “My Vistara flight from CCU to Bangalore on 17th March was cancelled from the Airline’s end. Only the flight ticket charges were refunded and not the other charges (convenience and zero cancellation) . Why the charges were not refunded? New way to cheat right ?”

"The Vistara flight that was supposed to take me home at 8:30 pm will fly (may be) at 11:30 pm now, because there are no pilots!! 12 flights are delayed for this reason. The airline is trying to arrange for pilots who are "legally allowed to fly". Kya mazaak chal raha hai yaar," wrote a user on X.

“Vistara ki service itni ghatiya hai, it should be made into a case study OF WHAT NOT TO DO in airlines industry,” wrote an X user.