Vistara Crisis: CEO Foresees Return To Normal Operations By May; Blames Pilot Roster Strain For Disruptions

Earlier this week, the Tata Group airline had to cancel numerous flights due to pilot unavailability, leading to a temporary reduction in overall flight operations to stabilise the situation.

Vistara Crisis: Over three days starting from April 1, the carrier cancelled over 125 flights

Vistara Airlines anticipates that its operations will return to normalcy by May, according to CEO Vinod Kannan. He noted that flight disruptions, primarily stemming from a strained pilot roster, are being actively resolved. Additionally, Kannan mentioned that the airline is carefully reviewing and addressing concerns raised by its pilots.

Earlier this week, the Tata Group airline had to cancel numerous flights due to pilot unavailability, leading to a temporary reduction in overall flight operations to stabilise the situation. Over three days starting from April 1, the carrier cancelled over 125 flights.

Kannan told the news agency PTI in an interview that the need to cancel flights abruptly will cease after this weekend as the buffer situation for pilots is gradually stabilising. "It might be a reduced schedule... we are back to normal as far as the flights that are operating... the need to cancel flights at short notice will not happen after this weekend," he said.

He stated that the pilot buffer situation is stabilising, eliminating concerns regarding last-minute flight cancellations. "From Monday, whatever flights are in the system, they should be operating," he said, assuring that they will make sure there be no last-minute flight cancellations from the airline.

Kannan noted that the airline has trimmed its daily flights by 20-25 in line with halted flight operations. Vistara aims to maintain over 300 flights daily during the current summer schedule. However, the airline did cancel some flights on Friday.

"We are now working on the schedule for May, and we will try and optimise it to come to usual kind of operations... (we) expect normal operations (by May). On behalf of all the 6,500 staff, we are very sorry for what happened. We all stand ready to bring the situation back to normal, and it is happening quite fast," Kannan added.

Kannan also apologised to the customers impacted by the flight disruptions, emphasising that such service lapses are not what the airline aims for. "I don't think there is an apology to the pilots but customers of course... It is a question of more being aware about what their feedback is, we are reviewing their concerns and will discuss it. We have been reaching out to all customers (affected), apologise for the disruptions...," he said.

Kannan affirmed the airline's commitment to engaging in discussions with pilots to resolve their concerns.