Vistara CEO: On war footing, 98% of pilots have signed new contracts

Mr Kannan said more pilots were being hired.

New Delhi:

Crisis-hit Vistara said it hoped to stabilize operations by the end of the week, insisting that 98% of its pilots had signed new contracts and revised its pay structure after several pilots called in sick and flights were cancelled.

The airline’s chief executive, Vinod Kannan, also apologized for the inconvenience caused to passengers and acknowledged that some pilots had concerns about the contract.

“Given the recent disruptions to our network due to various operational reasons, we acknowledge and are deeply concerned about the inconvenience this has caused our customers. We would like to clarify again that these disruptions are due to a cascading number of factors. …..Having said that, we acknowledge the inconvenience this has caused our customers and sincerely apologize to them for it,” he said in a statement on Saturday.

Kannan claimed that the full-service airline had enough crew to maintain normal operations and said the airline faced challenges because it was operating at “high utilization rates.”

“We are addressing this issue on a war footing. As a result, we will continue to hire additional pilots and carefully scale back our operations slightly to provide much-needed resiliency and provide a buffer in the roster,” the CEO said.

On the customer side, he said: “We have also deployed large aircraft such as B787-9 Dreamliners and A321neo on some domestic routes to accommodate as many customers as possible. In addition, we are contacting all customers who have been delayed and affected. For flights canceled last weekend, relevant refunds and compensation will be provided.”

Mr Kannan claimed the airline’s on-time performance had improved over the past three days and said it hoped to stabilize operations for the remainder of April by the end of the week.

“Regarding the concerns raised about the new pay structure for our pilots, we would like to clarify that over 98% of our pilots have already signed the new contract. Having said that, we are aware that some pilots have some concerns and questions regarding the new contract. We They are being engaged to clarify and resolve the same. However, this has not resulted in any significant spike in the attrition of pilots,” the CEO said.

The airline canceled more than 125 flights over three days starting on Monday, with pilots saying they were flying “on the verge of maximum mission limits” which was causing serious health issues and causing “everyone to get sick all the time” .

The revised pay structure ahead of the airline’s merger with Air India (both brands are part of the Tata Group) has also caused consternation among pilots. Under the new structure, the salary of junior co-pilots will come down from Rs 2.35 lakh per month to Rs 1.88 lakh as they will be required to fly only 40 hours instead of the previous 70 hours.

Those who choose to fly longer may even earn more than before, sources said.