An official reported that over 80 flights faced cancellation on Thursday due to a widespread sick leave taken by cabin crew members of Air India Express.
"We will be running 283 flights today. With all our resources mobilized, Air India will assist us by servicing 20 of our routes. Nevertheless, 85 of our flights are unfortunately cancelled, and we advise our passengers to verify if their flights are affected by the disruption before heading to the airport," stated the Air India Express spokesperson.
"For passengers whose flights are cancelled or delayed beyond 3 hours, they have the option to claim a full refund or reschedule their travel for a later date without incurring any fees. They can also reach out to Tia on WhatsApp at (+91 6360012345) or airindiaexpress.com for assistance," added the spokesperson.
The disruption was caused by over 300 cabin crew members calling in sick en masse since Tuesday. They protested against the deviation from promised job security, salary preservation, and acknowledgement of seniority and experience during the transition from AirAsia to Air India Express.
In 2023, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation permitted the Tata Group to merge the low-cost carrier AIX Connect—formerly AirAsia India—with Air India Express.
"Since Tuesday evening, more than 100 of our cabin crew colleagues reported sick just before their scheduled flight duty. This action, mostly by colleagues in the L1 role, disproportionately affected us so much so that over 90 flights were disrupted even as other colleagues reported for duty," read the statement issued by CEO Aloke Singh on Wednesday,
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