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55% IndiGo domestic flights delayed as crew call sick; did they attend AI recruitment drive?

The largest airline in India, IndiGo, currently offers 1,600 local and international flights every day.

55 percent IndiGo domestic flights delayed as crew call sick; did they attend Air India recruitment drive snt
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First Published Jul 3, 2022, 6:54 PM IST

On Saturday, 55% of IndiGo's domestic flights were delayed due to many cabin crew workers who reportedly went to an Air India recruitment drive while taking sick leave. When asked about this, Arun Kumar, who heads the aviation regulator DGCA, told PTI on Sunday, "We are looking into this." 

According to PTI sources in the industry, most of IndiGo's cabin crew personnel who took sick leave participated in phase 2 of Air India's recruiting campaign on Saturday. The largest airline in India, IndiGo, currently offers 1,600 local and international flights every day.

The website of the Ministry of Civil Aviation reports that 45,2% of IndiGo's domestic flights took off and landed on schedule on Saturday. Comparatively, on Saturday, the on-time rates for Air India, SpiceJet, Vistara, Go First, and AirAsia India were 77.1%, 80.4%, 86.3%, 88.8%, and 92.33%, respectively.

Also read: IndiGo airlifts heart in 2.5 hours from Vadodara to Mumbai to save a life

Ronjoy Dutta, CEO of IndiGo, informed staff via email on April 8 that raising wages is a challenging and contentious issue but that the airline will continuously examine and modify pay depending on its profitability and the competitive climate.

A few pilots who planned to strike on Tuesday to protest salary reductions made during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak were suspended by IndiGo on April 4.

The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after winning the airline's bid on October 8 last year. Air India recently launched a recruitment drive for additional cabin crew members as part of its aspirations to upgrade its services and purchase new aircraft.

Indigo had reduced the pay of its pilots by as much as 30% during the height of the pandemic. The airline announced its decision to raise pilots' compensation by 8% on April 1 this year.

It said that another hike of 6.5 per cent would be implemented from November onwards in case of no disruptions. However, some pilots remained unsatisfied and decided to organise a strike.

Also read: Pooja Hegde upset with IndiGo staff; actress BLASTS airline on Twitter

(With inputs from PTI)

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