Mass sick leave: Air India Express sacks 30 cabin crew members, warns others

The Tata group-owned low-cost airline Air India Express has issued termination letters to 30 cabin crew members after the recent cancellation of around 200 flights. A section of members (around 300) called in sick this week, in a protest against the airline management for better pay and other employment terms, and caused immense disruption and flight cancellations. 

The employees who have been sacked will no "longer have any access to official emails, servers, other communication and their dependents will not be eligible for employee-related benefits", the company said via termination letters issued to them. 

The cancellation of flights not only caused immense confusion but reportedly affected more than 15,000 passengers. On Thursday, too, the airline cancelled 74 flights, causing further chaos for flight-goers. The cancelled flights were scheduled to fly to or from key cities like Chennai, Kolkata, Singapore, Trichy, Jaipur and Mumbai.

Responding sternly, the management of Air India's subsidiary said the members part of mass leave must return to duty by 4 PM on Thursday or face the axe. 

"Your action of reporting sick for work is viewed as a concerted effort with shared understanding aimed at disrupting flight operations. This contravenes both applicable laws and the Air India Express Limited Employees' Service Rules applicable to you," the Air India Express letter, issued to terminated employees and circulated on social media, says.

The notice says the action points to a "pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason".

The letter says a large number of flights had to be cancelled due to their action, disrupting the entire schedule, which caused "tremendous inconvenience" to the passengers. "Your act is not only subversive of public interest, but has also caused embarrassment, several reputational damage, and serious monetary loss to the company," the letter says.

Apologising to its passengers for unprecedented flight delays and cancellations, Air India Express said it is working hard to minimise disruptions. However, the airline said passengers should "check flight status before heading to the airport". 

Meanwhile, the airline's Twitter handles are abuzz with customer complaints, who are enquiring about the status of their flights. "Please let me know the status of IX -1881 which is scheduled on 9th may..i tried calling customer care executive but waiting since 18 minutes," an X user @itsmeswami99 said.

Another user, @shijilnambiar, complained that Air India never gave any refund against the cancellation of his flight. "@AirIndiaX never give any refund, if anyone expecting a refund, just forget @airindia worst flight service i ever travelled," he rued.

The crisis at the Tata-owned low-budget airline comes amid its merger with AIX Connect. AirAsia India, renamed AIX Connect in December 2022, is currently flying with a fleet of over 80 aircraft. The company management, meanwhile, said they are in talks with concerned employees to address issues and have decided to reduce the number of flights to reduce inconvenience to passengers.