Air India Express Reduces Flight Operations After Crew Members Go On Mass Sick Leave; Centre Seeks Report

Air India Express Crew Shortage: Air India Express will cut short flight operations for the next few days to cope with the non-availability of crew members, the airline's CEO Aloke Singh said on Wednesday after it was forced to cancel dozens of flights due to the unavailability of in-flight staff. In a message to the Tata Group-owned airline's staff, Singh referred to the disruption to the company's flight operations that had been in effect since Tuesday evening due to more than 100 cabin crew members calling in sick "at the last minute" prior to their rostered duty.

More than 90 flights have faced disruption due to the situation, he informed. "The disruptions have cascaded across the network, forcing us to curtail the schedules over the next few days. We had to do this to cope with the non-availability of crew and to recover schedules," news agency PTI quoted Singh's message as saying.

Air India Express International, Domestic Flight Ops Affected

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The sudden shortage of crew members led to Air India Express flights being grounded, affecting both domestic and international routes. Sources cited by ANI said that some senior crew members switched off their mobile phones just before flight operations.

Air India Express Disruptions: Centre Seeks Report

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The Ministry of Civil Aviation has called for a detailed report from Air India Express regarding the cancellation of flights and has urged the airline to promptly resolve the issues. This comes nearly a month after Vistara encountered similar issues in April when hundreds of flights were affected due to pilots calling in sick.

(With inputs from agencies)