Centre Requests Report from Vistara on Over 100 Flights Cancelled or Delayed Last Week

The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Tuesday sought a detailed report from Vistara after the airline cancelled close to 100 flights in the past week.

Vistara’s woes ahead of its merger with Air India have mounted, with “significant cancellations and delays in the past few days” forcing the Tata-owned carrier to “temporarily” truncate schedules. The airline was forced to cancel close to 50 flights on Monday. Sources said the number of cancellations could go up to 60 on Tuesday.

Vistara after airline cancelled or delayed over 100 flights past week

Vistara — a full service carrier that operates over 300 domestic and international flights — will deploy wide-body Dreamliners and Airbus A321s on domestic routes in a bid to clear the backlog of affected passengers.

There has been simmering discontent among the airline’s pilots over reported pay cuts when they become part of Air India, the Tatas’ aviation flagship, over the next few months.

Many pilots have been reporting sick in recent months and crew unavailability, among other reasons, has led to poor punctuality and high cancellations.

The last 2-3 days have been particularly painful, with complaints flooding social media. On Monday evening, the airline admitted as much. In Mumbai, though, other airlines' flights were also delayed 30-40 minutes on Monday but that was attributed to VVIP movement linked to PM Narendra Modi's visit to the city.