Srinagar:

A Vistara flight bound for Srinagar, carrying 177 passengers and one infant received a bomb threat on Friday, prompting swift action by the airline and security forces.

Flight no-UK-611, which departed from Delhi, landed safely at Srinagar Airport at approximately 12:10 AM.

Following standard protocol for such threats, the aircraft was immediately directed to an isolation bay upon landing.

“All passengers were safely de-boarded at the isolation bay. Currently, the aircraft is undergoing a thorough security check by the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of all concerned,” an airport official told ANI.

Despite the disruption, all passengers are reported to be safe, and the situation is being handled with the utmost priority to ensure their security.

“We confirm there was a security concern on Vistara flight UK 611 operating from Delhi to Srinagar on 31 May 2024 that was brought to our staff’s attention while on board. Following the protocol, we immediately informed the relevant authorities, and the aircraft was taken to the isolation bay after safely landing at the Srinagar International Airport where all customers were disembarked,” said Vistara spokesperson.

“We fully cooperated with the concerned authorities to clear the mandatory security checks. All the necessary checks have been conducted and the aircraft has been cleared to resume operations. At Vistara, safety and security of our customers, crew and aircraft is of utmost importance to us,” the spokesperson underscored.

Authorities are investigating the source of the bomb threat and taking all necessary measures to ensure the continued safety of air travel.

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

Vistara on Sunday said it is scaling back its operations by 25-30 flights per day to ease the pressure on pilots, underlining that the airline, hit by delays, has improved its on-time performance over the last few days.

The announcement comes a day after the crisis-hit airline’s CEO said that 98% of its pilots have signed the new contracts with the revised salary structure which had led to several of them calling in sick and causing flight cancellations.

The airline has stressed that the cancellations were done mostly in the domestic network and much ahead of time to minimize inconvenience to the passengers.

“We are carefully scaling back our operations by around 25-30 flights per day, i.e. roughly 10% of the capacity we were operating. This will take us back to the same level of flight operations as at the end of February 2024, and provide the much-needed resilience and buffer in the rosters,” said an airline spokesperson.

“In line with what we had said earlier, with this all the changes for the month of April 2024 have been done and the situation has already gotten better with our on-time performance improving for the last few days. Looking ahead, we are hopeful of stable operations for the rest of the month and beyond,” the spokesperson added.

In recent weeks, discontentment has been simmering among pilots at Vistara, which is in the process of getting merged with Air India, following the new contracts wherein there are concerns that fixed pay component is getting reduced and there is more flying-linked incentive in the salary structure.

Over the weekend of March 31 to April 1, the full service carrier experienced severe operational disruptions and numerous flights were cancelled. Earlier this week, aviation regulator DGCA asked the airline to submit a daily report on flight cancellations and delays.  

The civil aviation ministry is also monitoring the situation of flight cancellations at Vistara, which saw resignations of at least 15 senior first officers in the recent past.

The airline maintains that it is addressing the issue on a “war footing”.

Vistara, a joint venture between Tatas and Singapore Airlines, has 6,500 staff, including 1,000 pilots and 2,500 cabin crew.

As per the summer schedule, which started from March 31, the airline is to operate a little over 300 flights daily. It has around 800 pilots.  

New Delhi:

Vistara expects to resume normal flight ops by the weekend, company sources told NDTV Wednesday evening, hours after CEO Vinod Kannan and senior members of his management team held a virtual town hall with striking pilots.

Company sources said the pilots had been promised a course correction to address concerns in the wake of Vistara’s merger with Air India. This, sources said, will include improved growth potential once the merger is complete and better rostering of pilots, which is expected by May.

The pilots have been told that opportunities to earn more will exist post the merger.

Almost 100 per cent of the pilots have now accepted the new contract, sources said, adding that no protest had been expressed by pilots during the virtual town hall.

Emphasising the point that crisis brought on by pilot shortage is nearing an end, Vistara sources also said only 24 flights were cancelled today compared to the 52 affected yesterday.

The pilots have yet to release a statement from their side.

READ | Vistara CEO To Meet Pilots After Scores Of Flights Cancelled

The airline had earlier said it faced a “significant number” of flight cancellations and delays “due to various reasons including crew unavailability”. It also said it had decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights it operates “to ensure adequate connectivity across our network”.

“We acknowledge and are deeply concerned about the inconvenience this has caused to our customers. Having said that, our teams are working towards minimizing the discomfort to the customers,” the airline said.

Vistara pilots had called in sick to protest the revised salary structure ahead of the merger with Air India. The pilots were sent a revised pay structure over mail and asked to sign on a short notice. The pilots were also warned that those who did not sign would be left out of the merger.

READ | Inside Track Of Vistara Crisis: Why Pilots Called In Sick En Masse

Pilots have complained that their cost to company (CTC) had been reduced in the new contract, in which they are mandated to fly 40 hours as opposed to 70 hours earlier. Sources in the airline, however, said that under the new structure pilots were incentivised to fly more, and that they could, in fact, earn more than they did earlier.

The centre is monitoring the situation and has sought daily reports from Vistara. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had asked the airline to share the steps they are taking to deal with the inconvenience caused to passengers.

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The crisis at Vistara Airlines intensified today with dozens of flights cancelled because of the non-availability of pilots who, sources say, are protesting the terms of a new contract after the decision to merge the airline with Air India.

Vistara pilots have sought sick leave en masse, a move prompted by a revised salary structure that the airline was trying to implement ahead of its merger with Air India, a report by NDTV Profit said.

In its email to pilots – which has been reviewed by NDTV Profit – Vistara said that those who do not sign up for the new pay structure would not be allocated a slot on the upgrade sequence list.

They would also not be eligible for the one-time bonus promised to pilots, the email said.

Such pilots will be deemed to not be interested in working with Air India. “Consequently, they will not be included in the transition to Air India,” Vistara further said.

Several pilots called in sick after receiving the email, leading to flight disruptions, sources said.

The airline, co-owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, yesterday said its teams are working to stabilise the situation.

“We have had a significant number of flight cancellations and delays in the past few days due to various reasons including crew unavailability,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.

“Our teams are tirelessly working to stabilizing the situation. We regret the inconvenience caused to our valued customers due to these disruptions,” the spokesperson added.

While 50 flights were cancelled and over were 160 delayed yesterday, about 38 flights have been cancelled this morning.

Vistara is in the process of merging with Air India post its privatisation and Singapore Airlines acquiring a 25.1 per cent stake in the once state-controlled airline.