Pilots voice fears as travel chaos continues
Pilots at another Tata Groupowned airline have joined crew at Vistara in voicing concerns about being overworked and underpaid, threatening to prolong the travel chaos that has plagued India this week.
“The concerns expressed by the Vistara pilots are not isolated incidents but rather indicative of systemic issues” across Tata’s aviation business, the Indian Pilots’ Guild, which represents crew at Air India, wrote in a letter to Tata chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran. The letter was also addressed to the chief executive officers of Vistara, Air India and low-cost unit Air India Express.
The pilots said they were made to rack up maximum flying hours, face difficulties in having leave approved and deal with unstable rosters, according to the letter dated April 4. The work culture at Tata’s airlines is “hostile and intimidating” and some crew reported feeling threatened, which poses a significant safety risk, it said.
The group asked Tata’s top management to open a dialogue with pilots and address their grievances. Representatives for Air India and Tata did not immediately respond to Bloomberg News’ requests for comment on the letter.
Until now, Vistara has been the focus after the airline, coowned by Tata and Singapore Airlines, cancelled more than 140 flights since Monday as pilots called out sick en masse over pay cuts and fatigue concerns.
While Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan addressed concerns on Wednesday, the revelation that crew at India’s flag carrier shared the same complaints was a major blow to Tata’s five-year plan to transform Air India into a worldclass airline.
The complaints also signal the challenges that lie ahead for the merger of Air India and Vistara, which is expected to be completed by year end.
One of the major concerns of Vistara’s pilots was that their guaranteed pay will be cut to 40 flying hours from 70 hours a month to align its salary structure with Air India.
Vistara’s flight cancellations continued, with another 13 scrapped so far on Friday.
At the meeting with pilots, Kannan told them that they would get opportunities to earn more after the merger with Air India.