Mumbai:

A 51-year-old passenger was arrested for smoking in the lavatory of a flight during his journey from Muscat to Mumbai, an official said today.

The incident occurred on board Vistara’s UK234 flight, which took off from Muscat for the Maharashtra capital at 11.56 pm on Monday, he said.

The passenger, Balakrishna Rajayan, who was on board the flight, went to the lavatory at the rear side of the aircraft and smoked a cigarette, the official said.

Rajayan hails from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, he said.

The incident came to light when the pilot of the aircraft noticed it with the help of a smoke detector, he added.

The pilot informed the crew members about it, following which they checked the lavatory and found a cigarette bud in the wash basin, the official said.

After the flight landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on Tuesday morning, the crew members informed the security supervisor on the ground about the unruly behaviour of the passenger, he said.

The security officials then took the passenger to their office and enquired about his act. He admitted that he had smoked inside the lavatory, he said, adding that Rajayan also produced a matchbox used for lighting the cigarette.

He was later taken to the Sahar police station in the city, where a complaint was filed against him by the security supervisor.

As per the complaint, Rajayan had deliberately violated the safety-related rules by smoking inside the plane, putting all the travellers of the flight at risk.

A case was registered against the passenger under section 336 (act of endangering life or personal safety of others) of Indian Penal Code and section 25 of the Aircraft Rules, he said.

Probe into the case is underway, he added.

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

File picture of Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan
| Photo Credit: KAMAL NARANG

After facing significant flight disruptions recently, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan on Thursday told the airline staff that the “worst is behind us” and operations have already stabilised.

Pilot woes have forced the Tata Group airline to temporarily cut down capacity by 10% or 25-30 flights daily.

While acknowledging that things should have been planned better, Mr. Kannan said it has been a “learning experience”.

He also said it has been a challenging start to the new financial year and the airline faced significant operational disruption from March 31 to April 2.

“The anxiety and frustration felt by our customers was matched in even measure to the pain that all of us felt in seeing our much-loved brand drawing negative commentary from various quarters… I assure you that the worst is behind us, and we have already stabilised our operations, with our on-time performance (OTP) increasing to 89 per cent on 9 April 2024 (second highest among all Indian airlines),” he said in a message to the staff.

The full-service carrier has around 6,500 people, including about 1,000 pilots.

In the wake of the disruptions, the top management of the airline had held a virtual meeting with the pilots. One of the reasons for the disruptions was also that some section of pilots reporting sick to protest against the new contract that will result in pay revision.

According to Mr. Kannan, there were a multitude of reasons for the disruptions, including ATC delays, bird hits, and maintenance activities early last month.

“We were stretched in our pilot rosters and there was not enough resilience to withstand injects that we would otherwise have weathered. We could and should have planned better, and this has been a learning experience for us which we will review thoroughly,” the Vistara chief said.

Most of the cancellations were in the domestic network and the carrier is working on plans for May and beyond.

“While the events of the last week may seem like a setback, the hallmark of our organisation has always been that we have bounced back from tough situations ‘ and emerged stronger.

“… I trust each of you to continue to put in all efforts to ensure that we do not let our brand, and our customer, down,” Mr. Kannan said.

As we emerge from this difficult phase, he said it is this commitment to being a customer-oriented airline that will help it bounce back stronger.

The airline has also reached out to customers impacted by the cancellations and delays over the affected period.

“We have provided the necessary compensation as per the regulatory mandate, and have also offered additional service recovery vouchers for passengers whose flights were significantly delayed,” the Vistara chief said.

The carrier has 70 aircraft in its fleet and is to operate more than 300 flights daily in the ongoing summer schedule.

“Dealing with disappointed customers is never easy but amidst all the chaos, we have received feedback on how some of you went beyond the call of duty to assist our customers to the extent possible,” Mr. Kannan said and expressed gratitude to the pilots for cooperating and stepping up to support operations.

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

Vistara has cancelled nearly 1,000 flights for the month of April in order to ensure stability in its operations, which saw a massive disruption last week over hectic rosters for pilots and unrest from a section of cockpit crew over pay cuts.

“We are carefully scaling back our operations by around 25-30 flights per day, that is, roughly 10% of the capacity we were operating,” a Vistara spokesperson said in a statement.

Also read | Merger pangs: Vistara gives ultimatum to pilots over new pay

The move will provide a much needed buffer to the airline in pilot rosters.

The airline said that the cancellations will mostly affect domestic flights and have been implemented much ahead of time to minimise inconvenience to passengers.

“All the affected passengers have already been re-accommodated on other flights,” the airline added.

Vistara has also deployed bigger Airbus A321 and Boeing 787 aircraft on domestic routes to accommodate more number of passengers and has also been booking its customers on other airlines. Air India will also be sending nearly 20 First Officers on deputation to support Vistara. Six Airbus A320s of Vistara are also being shifted to Air India Express to improve the aircraft and manpower ratio.

The cancellations are expected to push up airfares during the peak summer travel season in a market that is already grappling with nearly 200 aircraft grounded due to engine issues, out of which IndiGo alone has over 70 non-operational planes.

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.  

Vistara’s CEO Vinod Kannan on Saturday asserted that “over 98% of pilots” had signed new contracts entailing a new pay structure, which has been cited by industry sources as a key issue that had led to a spate of recent flight cancellations and delays at the full service airline that is set to merge with the Tata Group’s Air India. The industry sources, however, contended that the number of Vistara pilots who had not accepted the new pay structure announced in mid-February were far more in number than the airline was publicly admitting.

“Over 98% of pilots have signed the new contract,” Mr. Kannan said in an e-mailed statement to The Hindu. “Having said that, we are aware that some pilots have some concerns and queries regarding the contract. We are engaging with them to clarify and resolve the same,” he stated, adding that this had, however, ‘not caused any visible spike in attrition’ among pilots.

The CEO, who had held a town hall with pilots on April 4 to address their concerns after the airline was forced to cancel 150 flights and suffer delays to more than 200 other flights in the preceding three to four days, is reported to have told participants at that event that 270 pilots had not signed the contract, according to multiple people who had participated at the online meeting and spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue.

This would imply that almost a fourth of Vistara’s total cockpit crew were opposed to the terms of the new contract, which cuts the guaranteed minimum flying allowance from 70 hours to 40 hours resulting in a monthly pay cut of ₹80,000 to ₹1.4 lakh for First Officers (FOs or junior pilots). The airline has more than 1,100 pilots on its rolls.

Acknowledging the gravity of the recent disruptions to the airline’s flight schedules and its impact on customers, Mr. Kannan said in the statement, “In the light of the recent disruptions in our network owing to various operational reasons, we acknowledge and are deeply concerned about the inconvenience this has caused to our customers”.

“We are addressing this on a war footing… we are continuing to hire more pilots and are also carefully scaling back our operations slightly to provide the much needed resilience, and a buffer in the rosters. We have also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo aircraft on select domestic routes to accommodate more customers, wherever possible,” he observed, adding that the airline hoped to stabilise operations “by this weekend”.

Industry sources said discontentment among pilots over various issues, including taxing flight schedules, delay in upgrades for FOs to the post of Pilot-in-Command had been brewing for a while, resulting in resignations that had precipitated the disruptions and coincided with the announcement of the new pay structure two months ago. This had particularly angered the FOs, they added.

“As opposed to Commanders who have been on the job for several years, First Officers have the sword of repayment of loans incurred for training hanging over their head,” said Mohan Ranganathan, a veteran former Boeing 737 flying instructor with Air India. “They have agreed to pay EMIs based on their projected income, which will change post the new salary structure. Trainings costs have also escalated sharply in the recent past and the current batch of First Officers across airlines have spent ₹80 lakh to ₹1 crore to complete their training.”

Mr. Kannan is said to have told pilots at the town hall that notwithstanding the refusal of a section of pilots to accept the new pay structure under the revised contract, the airline’s stand remained the same as communicated by the HR department. HR officials had informed pilots that failure to sign the new contract by March 15 would result in consequences that would include their losing a one-time pay out linked to the merger as well as forfeiting their place in the sequence for upgrade.

The CEO is said to have admitted at the town hall that there was a failure to align network expansion with pilot strength leading to them working longer hours and flights being stretched too thin, which had caused the large number of cancellations and delays.

However, it is reliably learnt that Air India is likely to send 15-20 First Officers (FOs) on deputation to Vistara from next week as an equal number of pilots have left the airline to join IndiGo and Qatar. 

Further, to improve the ratio of pilots and aircraft, six planes are expected to be shifted from Vistara and another 14 from Air India to the low-cost international subsidiary in the Tata Group, Air India Express. The planes being moved are all-economy aircraft.

The CEO has already said that the airline will continue to cancel flights till the end of April in order to create a buffer of pilots.

A mismanagement of pilot training has also raised eyebrows within the airline on the alleged impact on safety, as well as resulted in a show-cause notice from the DGCA earlier this month, said the industry sources.

“We are in receipt of a show-cause notice from DGCA and are in discussion with the regulator on this subject,” Mr. Kannan acknowledged in the statement on Saturday.

“The situation is so dire, that the last two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, including the one that joined the fleet last week on March 29, were ferried from Boeing’s aircraft assembly facility in Charleston [in the U.S.] to New Delhi by the manufacturer’s pilots as the airline didn’t have enough of its own. The Dreamliner delivery was also delayed because of the same issue,” said a person in the know.

“Had Air India not sent its widebody pilots to Vistara, the latter would have to ground as many as three of its widebodies,” said another source.

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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Vistara said on Monday it was forced to cut a number of flights as it was dealing with a shortage of pilots and crew.

“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.

Vistara, owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, is using larger aircraft, including the wide-body Boeing 787 Dreamliner on certain domestic routes “to accommodate more passengers, wherever possible,” the spokesperson said.

The airline, which will be merged with Tata-owned Air India, faced similar disruptions last month.

Local media had reported that an increasing number of its pilots had called in sick. In response, Vistara had said the disruption was not attributed to pilot absenteeism alone as it also had to deal with certain unforeseen maintenance needs.

Vistara’s flight disruption comes as India’s aviation watchdog deferred a June 1 deadline for airlines to adopt new rules on rest and duty times for pilots, a move that has drawn criticism from some pilots and aviation safety experts.

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

Vistara, co-owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, has been hit with a number of flight delays and cancellations over the last few days, the airline said on Monday.

The airline said its teams are working to stabilise the situation.

“We confirm that we have had a number of flight cancellations and unavoidable delays in the last few days due to various operational reasons,” said the Vistara spokesperson.  

“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.

The irate passengers took to internet to complain about the long delays.

“#Vistara #UK827 Bombay to Chennai delayed more than 5 hours and no confirmation yet. Absolutely pathetic,” Vignesh Murali posted on X.

#Vistara#UK827 Bombay to Chennai delayed more than 5 hours and no confirmation yet. Absolutely pathetic. pic.twitter.com/vbsf7X98YJ

— Vignesh Murali (@Vigneshmurali95) March 31, 2024

“I’m seeing many such complaints about Air Vistara in the last two days… Wonder what’s wrong. Some said pilot/crew shortage,” posted Swaying Sayings on X.

“Yes, too many complaints. Can @vistara be more honest and tell its customers what is wrong, how long, cut flights with notice, and restore credibility? Too much of lies now. People trust vistaara, getting damaged, @JM_Scindia,” posted TV Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital Partners.

Yes, too many complaints. Can @vistara be more honest and tell its customers what is wrong, how long, cut flights with notice, and restore credibility? Too much of lies now. People trust vistaar, getting damaged, @JM_Scindiahttps://t.co/ofxPIsjGkS

— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) April 1, 2024

“Another Vistara flight delayed by an hour!. They have really adopted the Air India culture well,” said Anshu Mor, a stand-up comic.

Another Vistara flight delayed by an hour! . They have really adopted the Air India culture well.

— Anshu Mor (@anshuMor) March 30, 2024

Historian and writer Vikram Sampath posted his flight was cancelled last minute.

“Pathetic @airvistara … mumbai blore flight 5 pm gets cancelled last min citing “operational reasons”.. we change booking to morning 9 am. U announce boarding n then say “operational reason” it now leaves at 11. Do u even care for ur customers, their time, money? As a CV Gold member frustrated by ur poor service,” posted Mr Sampath.

Pathetic @airvistara … mumbai blore flight 5 pm gets cancelled last min citing “operational reasons”.. we change booking to morning 9 am. U announce boarding n then say “operational reason” it now leaves at 11. Do u even care for ur customers, their time, money? As a CV Gold…

— Dr. Vikram Sampath, FRHistS (@vikramsampath) April 1, 2024

Early in March, the flight operations of Vistara were impacted at Delhi and Mumbai airports, mainly due to the non-availability of pilots.

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.

By the end of December 2023, Mumbai would have an equal number of domestic departures as Delhi which currently has 78 daily domestic departures. File

Notwithstanding the uncertainty over the brand name continuing after its merger with Air India by April 2024, Vistara, the joint venture of Tata Sons & Singapore Airlines (SIA), continues to scale up its operations, mostly from Mumbai. 

The airline’s CEO said more international flights would be operated from Mumbai, which has become Vistara’s sizeable hub, in the coming months as more aircraft join the fleet.

“Mumbai will remain a focus of growth because we have added so much domestic capacity to help grow our international connections,” said CEO Vinod Kannan. “Today, we operate 12 international flights from Mumbai as compared with 7 from Delhi and more international flights will be added from Mumbai in the coming months,” he added.

He said Vistara, which currently has 54 daily domestic departures from Mumbai, will increase the number of departures to 67 from August. By the end of December 2023, Mumbai would have an equal number of domestic departures as Delhi which currently has 78 daily domestic departures. 

Vistara will add 10 more aircraft including three Boeing 787s by March 2024 to take the fleet size to 70 by the time of merger. And most of these aircraft will be deployed in the international sector including Europe, Mr. Kannan said.

Stating that a consultant had been onboarded for the branding part of the combined entity, and no decision had been taken on the future of brand Vistara, he said, “We continue to do what we do best. We will continue to add destinations, aircraft and celebrate the wins.”

“We have not paused or taken a breather. Ultimately, we have to come up to certain level where the combined entity can together move to the next level,”

He said the airline was on track for the merger and various approvals were being received. He said out of the four airlines of the Tata Group, only two Air Operator Certificates (AOC) would be retained, one for the full-service carrier and the other for the low-cost carrier. 

“Whether there would be a sub-brand or there will be a merger of the brands and whether there will be one brand, these are still being discussed,” he said.

“But in the aviation context there are not so many examples of people running sub brands successfully and doing well. So, as much as we love our brand, these things are important,” he added.