A Vistara Airbus A320 passenger aircraft. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

More than 80 pilots at Vistara have written to Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and the airline’s CEO Vinod Kannan alleging that they had been sidelined for promotions, ahead of Vistara’s merger with Air India next month.

In the letter to the top brass on Sunday evening, a copy of which was reviewed by The Hindu, Vistara captains expressed displeasure at Air India pilots being promoted to widebody aircraft as well as to the position of trainers ahead of them. They alleged that this violated the career progression list prepared by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for the pilots of the two airlines for the upcoming merger, which stated that for every Vistara pilot promoted to widebody planes, three from Air India would be upgraded based on the staff strength of the two airlines.

Ever since the BCG list was finalised, Air India had promoted 100 captains and moved them to twin-aisle Boeing 787, while only five had been upgraded in Vistara, they alleged.

Calling this violation a “transgression”, the pilots wrote that this meant there would be “fewer vacant slots for conversion from narrow-body to wide-body airplanes” once they were part of the enlarged Air India.

In his response via email on Tuesday evening, which was also reviewed by The Hindu, the CEO wrote that the implementation of the career progression list for Vistara pilots for promotions to widebodies and for the post of trainers would take place post the merger.

Vistara will merge into Air India on November 12, when both airlines will operate under the AI code and flight bookings will be shifted to the latter’s website.

Vistara pilots asserted in the mail that they were the “original Tata Sons employees”, while Air India was only acquired in 2022 and, therefore, various schemes were contrary to the “principle of natural justice”.

Another issue that has upset the pilots at Vistara is the mandate to avail the staff travel scheme, a key perk that allows the airline’s employees and their families access to free air travel with the airline. They said using the date of joining as the basis to determine an employee’s seniority to avail the scheme would place them at a disadvantage, irrespective of their seniority, simply because Vistara was launched in 2014, while Air India was a much older airline.

Concerns were also raised over anomalies in pay and allowances between individuals with similar levels of service seniority and experience. However, the CEO sought to reassure that increments over the next few years would be designed in a way to ensure that the disparities are removed overtime such that salaries of staff in the same cohort “converge.”

Representational image of a Vistara flight
| Photo Credit: PTI

Two trade unions of Air India pilots joined cause with Vistara’s cockpit crew and said in a letter addressed to Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran that concerns over a revised pay structure and hectic rosters extended to all Tata Group airlines, where crew were being treated as “bonded labour”.

“It is crucial to recognise that the concerns expressed by the Vistara pilots are not isolated incidents but rather indicative of systemic issues that extend across various Tata Group aviation entities,” read a letter from the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots’ Guild (IPG). The unions urged that the CEOs of Air India, Vistara and Air India Express must have a dialogue with pilots to address their grievances. The ICPA represents the pilots of Air India’s narrowbody fleet, and the IPG of that of the airline’s widebody fleet.

The National Company Law Tribunal will evaluate the impending merger of Vistara into Air India on Friday. This is the final nod awaited for the consolidation of Tata’s two full-service carriers.

The missive comes a day after Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan, following over 150 flight cancellations between March 31 to April 2, held a townhall with its pilots on the same concerns where he extended an apology for mismanagement of rosters and assured them of better work-life balance without backing down on the issue of revised pay contracts announced in mid-February.

The issues reiterated by the two trade unions are cutting down of the 70-hours guaranteed flying allowance to 40 hours, approval of leaves, adequate rest periods, unstable roster, stretching pilots to maximum flight duty, botched roster practices and an unsupportive work environment, including issuing threats to pilots on “potential disruptions to their future”.

The two trade unions said that such an environment impacted safety culture. “Pilots who feel threatened or intimidated may be reluctant to report safety concerns or speak up about issues that could impact flight operations,” the letter added.