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New Delhi: In a major action, Tata Group-owned Air India Express has “terminated with immediate effect” the services of nearly 25 senior cabin crew members. This action taken a day after over 100 employees of the airline called in sick and switched off their phones, leading to the cancellation of over 100 flights since Tuesday night, affecting nearly 15,000 passengers.
The move by the crew members “points towards a pre-planned and organised absence from work without any justifiable reason”, the airline said in a statement emailed to the concerned crew members. It added that the mass sick leave not only violated applicable laws but also “violated the Air India Express Limited Employee Service Rules, which apply to you.”
On Tuesday, the crew members were rostered for a flight, the statement said. “However, you informed the scheduling team at the last minute that you were unwell and reported sick accordingly.” It added, “It is worth noting that at around the same time, a large number of other cabin crew members also reported sick and did not report for their duty. This clearly points towards a pre-planned and organised absence from work without any justifiable reason.”
As a result, The airline said that, “a large number of flights had to be cancelled, disrupting the entire schedule, causing great inconvenience to our esteemed passengers”.”Your act is an organised action with a common understanding, not to operate flights and disrupt the company’s services.”
The airline said after terminating the services of the cabin crew members, “You will no longer be considered employees; you will no longer have access to official mail, servers, other communications; and you and your dependents will not be eligible for any employee-related benefits offered by the company.”
The statement sent via email comes after Air India Express CEO Alok Singh announced that the airline is cutting down flight services till May 13 as a result of the cabin crew crisis.
He added,”The disruptions have spread across the network, forcing us to curtail the schedule over the next few days… We had to do so to deal with the unavailability of crew and to fix the schedule.” At the same time, the Union Civil Aviation Ministry has also sought a detailed report from the airline about the delays and cancellations in flights. It has asked Air India Express to take prompt action to address the crisis immediately.
