Amid operational challenges, Vistara planning for summer schedule: CEO tells employees

A significant number of Vistara pilots had taken sick leave following the announcement of new salary rules, coinciding with the merger with Air India. The pilot shortage issue stemmed from pay cuts implemented after new flying hours regulations came into effect recently. Over 200 Vistara flights were affected--either cancelled or delayed--over the past two weeks.

Tata Group airline Vistara, which recently made headlines due to a significant number of flight cancellations and delays, is now focusing on operational planning for May and beyond. In a newsletter to employees, Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan acknowledged the challenging start to the new financial year.

The airline faced significant operational disruptions from March 31 onwards. "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," the CEO's newsletter read.

A significant number of Vistara pilots had taken sick leave following the announcement of new salary rules, coinciding with the merger with Air India. The pilot shortage issue stemmed from pay cuts implemented after new flying hours regulations came into effect recently. Over 200 Vistara flights were affected--either cancelled or delayed--over the past two weeks. Through the newsletter, Kannan assured employees that the worst was behind them. He added that the airline has stabilised its operations, with on-time performance (OTP) increasing to 89 per cent on April 9th.

Regarding the delays and flight cancellations, he wrote that there were a multitude of reasons behind them, including ATC delays, bird hits, and maintenance activities early last month--all of which had a cascading effect on the operations. "We could and should have planned better, and this has been a learning experience for us which we will review thoroughly," he added.

He thanked all the staff who faced a daunting and escalating situation but still worked with utmost professionalism. "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." "Let me reiterate that we are working with the relevant teams to introduce more resilience to our operations," he added.

Meanwhile, Vistara has scaled back its operations by around 25-30 flights per day, or roughly 10 per cent of the capacity it was operating. According to the CEO, flight cancellations are mostly on its domestic network. On the customer front, he said the airline has reached out to each customer impacted by cancellations and delays over the affected period and provided the necessary compensation. (ANI)

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