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.

New Delhi:

Crisis-hit Vistara has said it hopes to stabilise its operations by this weekend, insisting 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’s CEO, Vinod Kannan, also apologised for the inconvenience caused to customers and acknowledged that some pilots have concerns regarding the contract. 

“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 would like to again clarify that these disruptions were due to the cascading effect of a multitude of factors… Having said that, we acknowledge the inconvenience this has caused to our customers and sincerely apologise to them for the same,” he said in a statement on Saturday. 

Claiming that the full-service carrier has adequate crew for normal operations, Mr Kannan said the airline was challenged because it was operating “on a high utilisation”.

“We are addressing this on a war footing. Hence, we are continuing to hire more pilots and are also carefully scaling back our operations slightly to provide much-needed resilience, and a buffer in the rosters,” the CEO said.

On the customer front, he said, “We have also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo aircraft on select domestic routes to accommodate more customers, wherever possible. Furthermore, we are reaching out to all customers affected by the delays and cancellations over the last weekend, to offer relevant refunds and compensation.”

Mr Kannan claimed that the airline’s on-time performance has improved in the past three days and said that it hoped to stabilise its operations for the rest of April by this weekend.

“With reference to concerns being raised regarding the new pay structure of our pilots, we would like to clarify that over 98% of pilots have signed the new contract. 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. However, this has not caused any visible spike in attrition amongst pilots,” the CEO said.

The carrier had cancelled over 125 flights in three days starting Monday and pilots have said that they are flying at the “edge of their maximum flight duty limitations”, which was causing major health issues and leading to “everyone falling sick frequently”.

The revised salary structure ahead of the airline’s merger with Air India – both brands are under the Tata stable – has also caused consternation among the pilots. Under the new structure, salaries of junior co-pilots will go down from Rs 2.35 lakh per month to Rs 1.88 lakh because they will be mandated to fly only 40 hours instead of the earlier 70. 

Sources had said those who opted to fly a higher number of hours could earn even more than they made earlier. 

Vistara airline has more than 1,100 pilots on its rolls.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

More than one in four pilots in Vistara have not accepted the new pay structure announced in mid-February ahead of the merger with Air India. The integration of the two airlines has also escalated concerns over inadequate manpower and raised questions over safety being compromised to expedite training. 

The airline’s CEO Vinod Kannan told pilots during a townhall on April 4, which was held to assuage their concerns after 150 flights were cancelled at Vistara and more than 200 delayed in the preceding three to four days, that 270 pilots didn’t sign the contract. This means that nearly 24.5% of Vistara’s total cockpit crew are opposed to the terms of the new contract, which cuts the guaranteed minimum flying allowance from 70 hours to 40 hours resulting in a 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.

Discontentment among pilots over various issues, including taxing flight schedules, delay in upgrade for FOs to the post of Pilot-in-Command resulting in resignations precipitated the disruptions that coincided with the announcement of the new pay structure two months ago, which had particularly angered the FOs. 

“Yours is a unique case. There are 270 odd pilots who have not signed the contract,” Mr. Kannan said in response to a question from a pilot during a townhall held online. The pilot has complained that he was transferred from the old contract to the new contract despite his refusal, which he said was “illegal”. Pilots feel that the Human Resource (HR) department is steamrolling and coercing them to sign on the new contract.

The CEO added however that despite the refusal of a section of pilots to not accept the new pay structure under the revised contract “the stand [of the organisation] remains as communicated by the HR”. The HR had informed pilots that if they failed to sign on the new contract by March 15, they would be eliminated from the merged airline entity, apart from losing a one-time payout as well as their place in the sequence from upgrade.

The CEO has admitted 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 caused a large number of cancellations and delays. But he dismissed media reports of First Officers, known to be vehemently opposed to the new contract, reporting sick in protest as untrue and said that the end of the financial year sees a large number of unutilised sick leaves being claimed by employees.

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.

Pilot sources also blame senior vice-president of Flight Operations, Hamish Maxwell, for a toxic environment resulting from planning a network expansion while “miscalculating” the required number of crew. This spiralled out of control with the onset of the Summer Schedule from March 31, when Vistara planned a 30% increase in its flights precipitating the cancellations.

A mismanagement of pilot training has also raised eyebrows within the company on the alleged impact on safety, as well as resulted in a show-cause notice from the DGCA earlier this month for Vikram Mohan Dayal, vice-president, Training, said industry sources.

For instance, pilots were sent for their command upgrade on widebody aircraft such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing 787s resulting in a shortage of pilots for the narrowbody Airbus A320 aircraft they were flying. Moreover, several First Officers quit to join airlines such as Qatar and IndiGo as some of them faced delays of up to two years for an upgrade to Captaincy.

At the peak of the flight disruptions between March 31 to April 4, “base training” flights were being carried out in Jaipur instead of utilising the pilots for commercial flights.

“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, 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.

Earlier this month, the DGCA is learnt to have also showcaused Vikram Dayal as pilots completed Zero Flight Time Training (ZFTT) simulator sessions after the 45-day mandatory window since completing the skills test had lapsed.

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:

Hours after Vistara hinted at a probable end to its crisis, saying the flight schedules are expected to normalise over the weekend, pilots have pointed to fatigue issues which could have direct safety ramifications. “Pilots are flying at the edge of their maximum flight duty limitations. This is causing major health issues and everyone falling sick frequently,” sources said.

Vistara saw a surge in flight cancellations as the airline struggled with a shortage of pilots. An increasing number of its pilots have called in sick, protesting a revised salary structure ahead of the full-service carrier’s merger with Tata-owned Air India.

Sources, however, denied “coordinating together and taking mass sick leave”.

“Everyone is just tired from flying. The new FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) rules should have given us some relief but as expected that is also not happening,” they added.

Last week, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or DGCA deferred the implementation of the revised flight duty norms for pilots that were to be effective from June 1. The revised norms have reportedly been deferred for some time to have wider consultations.

The new norms provide for more rest time for pilots and seek to alleviate pilot fatigue.

Top officials in the airline, including CEO Vinod Kannan and senior members of his management team, held a virtual town hall with striking pilots Wednesday evening where discussions were held on new contracts and rostering issues.

Company sources said the pilots had been promised a course correction to address concerns in the wake of the 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.

Flagging major health issues due to “flying at the limits of the maximum duty limitations”, the pilot sources said: “Everyone is falling sick frequently. Pilots are already exceeding their max sick leaves in a year and ending up in leave without pay”.

They also criticised the airline for “trusting software more than their pilots”. “Pilots have been complaining about fatigue to the management. Management relies on the Boeing Alertness Model (BAM) and says the flight is safe, so you should have nothing to complain about. They trust software more than their pilots,” he said.

Everyone is “angry at the new contract, but we all knew it was coming sooner or later,” they said.

Earlier, company sources said that almost 100 per cent of the pilots accepted the new contract. Pilots expressed no protest during the virtual town hall, they added.

The airline had said on Monday that it was forced to cut a number of flights due to the pilot shortage and was using some of its larger aircraft to “accommodate more passengers.”

Vistara sources said only 24 flights were cancelled Wednesday compared to the 52 a day before

Pilots have been complaining 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, however, said under the new structure pilots were incentivised to fly more, and could earn more than they did earlier.

The civil aviation ministry said yesterday it was monitoring the developments while the aviation regulator sought daily information on flight disruptions from Vistara.

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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