Centre seeks report from Vistara following huge flight cancellations

New Delhi: Airlines Vistara has cancelled at least 38 flights from major cities in the country this morning.

Those cancelled included 15 flights from Mumbai, 12 from Delhi and 11 from Bangaluru due to the non-availability of pilots, NDTV reported.

Amid deepening crisis, the airliner cancelled 50 flights yesterday alongside 160 delayed causing passengers to complain of ‘poor communication and hours-long wait’.

Meanwhile, Vistara in a statement on Sunday cited reasons including ‘crew unavailability’ for the ‘significant number’ of flight cancellations.

‘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,’ it said.

In its efforts ‘to ensure adequate connectivity across our network", the airliner decided to temporarily cut down the number of flight operations.

‘We have also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more number of customers, wherever possible. Furthermore, we are offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers, as applicable. Once again, we understand that these disruptions have caused immense discomfort to our customers, and sincerely apologise to them for the same. We are working towards stabilizing the situation and will resume operating our regular capacity very soon,’ the statement further said.

Vistara pilots, protesting against the revised salary ahead of the company’s merger with Air India, began calling in sick jeopardizing the flight operations.

The pilots have received revised pay details over mail and have been asked to sign on a short notice. They have been reportedly warned to be left out o f the merger if they fail to sign.

In the wake of deepening crisis, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has sought a detailed report from the Vistara, according to the report.