Air India, Air India Express flights hit at Mumbai airport amid AIASL staff strike, flyers ‘stranded’ for hours: VIDEOS

Air India and Air India Express flight operations at Mumbai airport were impacted as employees of the government-owned ground handling agency, AIASL, staged a protest demanding a wage hike and other demands.

Many took to social media to complain about the delay in flight operations at the Mumbai airport. They reported about flyers being “stranded” inside planes for hours.

One X user claimed, “@AirIndiaXFlight IX1671 from Mangaluru to Mumbai delayed again & again — 2 PM, then 3:30 PM, now 4:30 PM. Absolute embarrassment for “national carrier.” If you can’t run operations properly, hand it back to the government instead of making passengers suffer every hour.”

The Air India Express apologised to the customer, saying, “We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused due to the delay of flight IX1671. ”

“Please note that the operational impact differs for each airline based on their individual ground handling and operational arrangements at the airport. In our case, the ongoing industrial action by a third-party ground handling agency has affected certain flight operations. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time,” the airline responded.

The Air Indian Express issued a similar response to Saisha who claimed on X, “My parents (Senior Citizens) traveling to Mangaluru for a funeral are stuck in the Air India Express flight IX 1027 at Mumbai T2 . Flight was supposed to take off at 12pm and they are just waiting inside the flight now! Horrendous service. Please take some action @AirIndiaX.”

Another user posted on X, “@MoCA_GoI pls note passengers are stuck in Air India flight AI 2874 which landed in Mumbai for close to 90 minutes now without any update. @airindia pls note.”

Delay due to AIASL employees' protest at Mumbai airport

Several flights of Air India and Air India Express were delayed on Monday as AIASL employees held a protest at the Mumbai airport for a wage hike and other demands, news agency PTI reported.

AIASL reportedly said its employees resumed work after getting an assurance from the management that their demands would be looked into.

"There was a silent Morcha by a certain section of employees, and we requested them to give us in writing (their demands) for discussion. They have been kind enough to go back and join back the work," Rambabu, CEO at AIASL, was quoted by PTI as saying.

He said the company will go through all requests (of the agitating employees).

"They have given us a letter. We have told them that we will go through the same in terms of the policies," Rambabu said.

AIASL provides ground handling services to Air India Group — Air India and Air India Express — as well as international airlines at the Mumbai International Airport, along with other airports in the country.

AIASL caters to 80 airlines, including foreign airlines such as Flydubai, Saudia, Oman Air and Salam Air, besides domestic carriers, at 84 airports in the country, and has 20,000 employees.

It handles 650 flights per day at these 84 airports, with 35 per cent of the international flights and 65 domestic operations, PTI reported.

Air India issues statement

An Air India spokesperson said an industrial action by employees of third-party ground handling agency at Mumbai airport is impacting the operations of Air India Express and Air India.

"Our airport teams are working closely with all stakeholders to minimise inconvenience to guests and restore normal operations at the earliest," the spokesperson was quoted by PTI as saying.