Air India Express is gradually resuming its flights and stabilising its services, the airline union said in a statement. They mentioned that all cabin crew members who were on sick leave have now returned to duty.
"All the cabin crew members who reported sick have joined their duty by 11th May 2024," the Air India Express Union said in a statement.
The airline union added that a glitch in the company's scheduling software mistakenly indicated that staff were on sick leave.
However, due to a software glitch in the company scheduling software, as it was recently introduced, it is still showing that staff are reported sick, it added.
"Further, the flights to take off today were cancelled 3 days back. To fly again, the passengers who were booked have to be reconfirmed so that the flight operations resume," Air India Express Union said.
The Tata Group-owned airline, which runs approximately 380 flights each day, canceled at least 20 flights on Sunday due to a strike by cabin crew members. The strike, prompted by alleged mismanagement, led to the cancellation of numerous flights since Tuesday. The airline official stated that they anticipate full normalcy to resume by Tuesday morning.
The strike was called off after a conciliation meeting led by the chief labor commissioner in Delhi on Thursday. Following the meeting, the carrier withdrew termination letters sent to 25 cabin crew members who participated in the strike. Representatives from both the airline and the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) attended the meeting.
After the meeting, Air India Express said, “We are pleased with the progress we made at the conciliation meeting and welcome our cabin crew colleagues back at work. This will help us swiftly restore our flight schedule and fulfil our commitments to our guests. We sincerely apologise to those inconvenienced by these unintended disruptions… As we gradually bring our operations back to normalcy, we urge our guests booked to fly with us to check their flight status before heading to the airport…"
In April, Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons Private Limited and Singapore Airlines, canceled its flight services due to crew shortages. Subsequently, it had to reduce operations when pilots reported sick.
Air India Express operates more than 2,500 flights weekly, serving 31 domestic and 14 international airports. Meanwhile, Air India maintains a fleet of over 70 aircraft, including Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s.