The start of the new financial year was a tough one for Vistara, which until now had the reputation of providing the best customer service among Indian carriers. In a major flight disruption, the Tata Group airline saw cancellations of about 100 flights in just the first two days of the week. The primary reason was that there were not enough pilots to fly the planes.
The utter chaos was allegedly due to pilots calling in sick in what was seen as a silent protest over concerns regarding the revised pay structure and being treated as “bonded labour”.
Following the many last-minute cancellations and extensive flight delays, the airline faced severe backlash from customers, many of whom took to social media to voice their grievances. The scale of disruptions also prompted an intervention by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The regulator is monitoring the situation and had asked the airline to submit daily reports on the cancelled and delayed flights.
That is why Vistara is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the Week.
The trouble, however, has been brewing at the airline for some time now. It’s been facing flight delays and cancellations, due to crew shortage with pilots reporting sick, since February this year.
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In the middle of a merger
The crux of the problem is the revised pay structure, due to the merger between Vistara and Air India, which would result in a pay cut of Rs 80,000 to Rs 1.4 lakh, as their guaranteed pay is brought down from 70 flying hours a month to 40 hours. The airline had given the pilots an ultimatum of 15 March to accept it. However, the company has denied that pilots reporting sick led to the delays.
It is expected that the merger of the two airlines will be finalised by mid-2025. Post the merger, the Tata Group plans to let go of the Vistara brand, which is a joint venture with Singapore Airlines. The new pay structure is in line with revised terms of employment and salary allowances introduced by Air India last year, amid overall consolidation of the Tata Group’s aviation business.
Given that Air India faced strong opposition on the revised pay structure with pilots even warning of “industrial unrest” if coerced to sign the “draconian” terms, Vistara should have been better prepared.
In a almost 30-minute town hall with the pilots on Wednesday, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan dismissed that a section of pilots reported sick to protest against the new pay structure announced in mid-February. But he acknowledged that there are issues related to stretched working hours for pilots. He assured that the company will revise the rostering system to make it more relaxed and bring in work-life balance, and the airline will also look at scaling back its network to resolve the issue.
He also tried to allay pilots’ fears by telling them that there will be more opportunities for the staff after the merger with Air India.
Pilots don’t fit in the 9-5 category of jobs. Following an erratic roaster that involves working in shifts and regularly spending nights away from home as part of layovers takes a toll on their health. It’s why they feel aggrieved when airlines tend to prune salaries, often to make the carrier’s financials look neat.
But airline sources maintain that taking sick leaves at the end of the financial year in March was normal as the pilots utilise these before they lapse. Lesser number of pilots clubbed with already high pilot utilisation at the airline, culminated in cancellation of more than a quarter of the flights that Vistara operates, they said.
While the company expects normal flight operations to resume this weekend, a better human resource management strategy will be needed, not just for Vistara but all the airlines under the Tata Group.
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Union support
On Thursday, two trade unions of Air India—Indian Pilots Guild (Boeing pilots association) and Indian Commercial Pilots Guild (Airbus pilots’ union)—came out in support of their peers at Vistara, highlighting that the concerns raised about remuneration and work-life balance are not isolated incidents but indicative of systemic issues across Tata Group’s aviation entities.
In a letter, dated 4 April, to Tata Sons Chairperson N Chandrasekaran, the unions alleged that pilots are being subjected to conditions and treatment “reminiscent of bonded labourers”.
Stating that every pilot deserves to be valued, respected, and provided with the necessary support to excel in their profession, they highlighted that there have been instances where HR has resorted to threatening pilots with potential disruptions to their future, accompanied by severe consequences.
“Threatening pilots with disruptions to their future is not only unethical but also creates a hostile and intimidating work environment…Pilots who feel threatened or intimidated may be reluctant to report safety concerns or speak up about issues that could impact flight operations. This poses a significant risk to the safety of our passengers and crew members and should not be taken lightly,” the letter stated.
Running an airline in India is no easy job and the country has seen many carriers go off the tarmac. Only the efficient players survive—those running on great financial discipline. But in attaining and maintaining that efficiency, the companies that tend to cut costs and pilot salaries is one big trunk that’s visible to the planners. Burnt out, underpaid and disgruntled pilots is a sure sign of worry for the aviation sector.
The unions added that issues of 70-hour fixed remuneration, approval of leaves and adequate rest periods, an unstable roster, stretching pilots to maximum flight duty, botched roster practices, and an unsupportive work environment are consistently echoed by pilots across different Tata Group airlines.
The public souring of the relations between Vistara and its pilots, and the support they are getting from their peers at Air India, is not only damaging the reputation of the airline but also the Tata Group, which is considered to be among the best employers in the country. The company needs to take another look at its human resources strategy amid the merger process to not only assuage workers’ concerns but also make sure that Indian flyers do not suffer.
Views are personal.