Air India Express rescinded termination notices issued to 25 cabin crew members on Thursday evening. These crew members had called in sick suddenly, leading to about 176 flight cancellations since Tuesday. In exchange for this action, the Air India Express Employees Union (AIXEU) committed to swiftly returning to work.
This decision came after Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) Ashok Perumalla intervened, convening a marathon five-hour meeting with the airline’s senior executives and AIXEU members.
A statement from Perumalla’s office conveyed that, following extensive discussions and persuasion, the union representatives (comprising cabin crew members) consented to all sick cabin crew promptly returning to duty with fitness certificates.
Thanks to Perumalla’s intervention, the airline’s management agreed to reinstate the 25 terminated cabin crew members, acknowledging their dismissal on May 7 and May 8 for simultaneous sick reports as a “coordinated action.” The management committed to reviewing these cases in accordance with service regulations.
Furthermore, the airline’s management pledged to address and resolve all concerns raised by the cabin crew members during the management discussions and conciliation proceedings, as assured to Perumalla.
The next conciliation meeting between Air India Express management and AIXEU is scheduled for May 28.
During the incident, Air India Express had to cancel 91 flights on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by 85 flights on Thursday. To mitigate the disruptions, its parent company, Air India, stepped in to operate flights on 20 routes. The sudden sick leave taken by over 100 cabin crew members since Tuesday had severely impacted flight operations.
Prior to these events, on April 26, AIXEU, representing about 300 senior cabin crew members, had written to Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran, expressing concerns about the removal of allowances resulting in decreased salaries and the perceived unequal treatment compared to employees of AIX Connect, both Tata-run airlines undergoing merger proceedings.
In one of the termination letters issued on Wednesday, Air India Express cited the simultaneous sick reports from multiple cabin crew members as evidence of premeditated and coordinated absenteeism without justification.
