The standoff between Air India Express management and ‘sick’ cabin crew ended on Thursday. The airline has agreed to reinstate all 25 sacked employees. After this the cabin crew immediately returned to work. Friday means flight cancellations will decrease from today afternoon. 350 to 400 daily flights will ply as per scheduled schedule till Sunday.
175 flights canceled in three days Let us tell you that the cabin crew started reporting sick en masse on Tuesday evening. Due to which 175 flights have been canceled in the next three days. The airline issued termination letters to 25 employees on Wednesday. Air India and Vistara came forward to help the stranded passengers on Thursday. Vistara grounded its 299-seat wide-body Boeing 787 on the Bengaluru-Kochi-Bengaluru route for affected passengers.
On the Air India Express backfoot, employees called off the strike with these conditions
The truce was signed by the Chief Labor Commissioner (CLC) after a long meeting between representatives of employees and management. In this, the aviation ministry played an important role in persuading both sides to end the impasse. This decision will also solve the problem of passengers during the summer travel season.
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Cabin crew problems will be solved
The CLC asked both parties to attend a conciliation meeting at 2 pm on Thursday. On CLC’s appeal, the management agreed to immediately reinstate the 25 cabin crew who were dismissed on May 7 and 8 for calling in sick. Management will review these cabin crew cases as per service rules. The management assured that all cabin crew issues before the management and during conciliation proceedings will be addressed and resolved.
Canceled flights are expected to be reinstated
In case of illness, the CLC said in a note signed by both parties that they would report for duty immediately with a fitness certificate. The settlement proceedings have been adjourned till May 28. “We will start restoring the canceled flights from Friday afternoon and will be back to normal by Sunday. Whatever issues need to be resolved, they will be addressed,” said airline sources with knowledge of the crisis resolution.