Representational image of an Air India express aircraft.
| Photo Credit: G. Ramakrishna

Air India Express has cancelled “scores of flights” due to a shortage of cabin crew members as a section of them are reporting sick to protest against alleged mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned airline, according to sources.

Discontent has been brewing among a section of the cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for some time now, especially after the start of the process of merger of AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself.

Also read | Air India Express cancels several flights to Middle East from Kochi; travellers protest

The sources on Wednesday said several cabin crew members started reporting sick since Monday evening and as there are not enough cabin crew members, “scores of flights” have been cancelled at various airports, including Kochi, Kozhikode and Bengaluru.

Late last month, a union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew alleged that the airline is being mismanaged and there is a lack of equality in the treatment of the staff.

Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU), a registered union, which claims to represent around 300 cabin crew members, mostly seniors, had also alleged that mismanagement of the affairs has affected the morale of the employees.

Many passengers took to social media on Wednesday complaining about the sudden cancellation of flights.

In response to a passenger’s post on X about flight cancellation, Air India Express apologised and said the flight was cancelled “due to operational reasons”.

“As part of our service recovery process, you can either opt to reschedule the flight within the next 7 days or request a full refund through our chat bot Tia…,” the airline said in a post on X.

The development at Air India Express comes a month after Tata Group full-service carrier Vistara witnessed pilot woes, forcing it to temporarily cut down capacity by 10 per cent or 25-30 flights daily.

As part of consolidating its airline business, Tata Group is merging Air India Express and AIX Connect, as well as Vistara with Air India.

Airlines will now have to provide automatic refunds to travelers if flights are canceled or significantly altered under new US Department of Transportation rules, a significant change for consumers that could drive up costs across the industry.

The final regulations released Wednesday outline the circumstances where passengers are entitled to refunds for all travel to, from and within the US. The goal is to make it easier for people to get money back and to make refund policies more consistent from one airline to the next. 

According to the department, complaints related to airlines and ticket agents rejecting or delaying refunds made up 87% of all air-travel service complaints at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

“Passengers deserve to get their money back when an airline owes them – without headaches or haggling,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

Under the new rule, passengers will be entitled to refunds if there is a “significant change” to their flights. These include:

• Departure or arrival time that moves by more than three hours domestically or six hours for international flights
• Being downgraded to a lower class than originally purchased, as from first class to economy
• Change of departure or arrival airport
• Increase in number of connections
• Changes to connecting airports or planes flown if they are less accommodating for people with disabilities

Travelers will also get refunds for checked bag fees if the bag is lost and not delivered within 12 hours of a domestic flight’s gate arrival. International flights will have from 15 to 30 hours to return a lost bag, depending on their length. 

Anyone who pays for a service, such as in-flight Wi-Fi or entertainment, and doesn’t receive it will also get their money back.

In addition, DOT made changes to make it easier for the passengers to receive the money they’re owed by requiring prompt automatic refunds in cash or through the original form of payment. Buttigieg said during a news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday that the bulk of the new requirements will go into effect in about six months.

The refund changes are poised to add significant costs across the airline industry, which could have a disproportionate impact on low-cost carriers, according to Seaport Research analyst Daniel McKenzie. “To the extent low cost carriers have to add costs to comply, reduce growth and/or downsize, they become less competitive,” McKenzie said in a note.

The Airlines for America trade group said in a statement that its member carriers already abide by and often exceed regulation on consumer protection. 

“US airlines are providing more options and better services while ticket prices, including ancillary revenues, are at historic lows,” the group said in a release.

Also on Wednesday, the department released a final rule requiring airlines to clearly communicate their extra fees upfront for checked luggage, carry-on bags or for canceling or changing reservations. According to DOT, airlines saw a 30% increase in revenue from baggage fees between 2018 and 2022. 

“Airlines should compete with one another to secure passengers’ business – not to see who can charge the most in surprise fees,” Buttigieg said in a separate statement, adding that the rule will save travelers more than half a billion dollars a year.  

Buttigieg told reporters at the news conference that more rules are on the way, including to expand rights for passengers who use wheelchairs and to allow parents to sit with their children on flights without being charged a fee. 

DOT will also continue to pursue more aggressive enforcement when airlines violate rules, he said, pointing to the department’s $140 million record fine against Southwest Airlines Co. for a meltdown in its operations that left more than 2 million passengers stranded in December 2022. 

“The level of toughness reflected in the Southwest enforcement is not an exception, but the new standard,” Buttigieg said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)