'Bonded labour': Air India pilot unions extend support to Vistara

Describing their situation akin to "bonded labourers", two Air India pilot unions extended their support to Vistara pilots on Thursday, who have raised grievances regarding the duty roster and the revised salary structure.

Amid the slew of flight cancellations and delays, Vistara Chief Executive Officer Vinod Kannan acknowledged on Wednesday that pilot utilisation in the airline was high, and announced plans to scale back its flight schedule and overhaul the rostering system to provide pilots with more rest time.

“It is crucial to recognise that the concerns expressed by the Vistara pilots are not isolated incidents but rather indicative of systemic issues that extend across various Tata Group aviation entities,” Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) and Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) said in a joint letter written to Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday.

Vistara is a 51:49 joint venture of Tata Group and Singapore Airlines. Air India is a completely owned airline of the Tata Group. Vistara is in the process of being merged into Air India.

“The issues of 70 hours fixed remuneration, approval of leaves, adequate rest periods, unstable roster, stretching pilots to maximum flight duty, botched roster practices and an unsupportive work environment are consistently echoed by pilots across different Tata Group airlines," the unions said.

Between Monday and Wednesday, Vistara was compelled to cancel over 125 flights, allegedly due to a specific group of pilots taking sudden sick leave at the end of March to indicate their dissatisfaction with the roster as well as the new salary structure.

On Thursday, the airline cancelled approximately 15 flights. It typically operates about 350 flights daily.

“Pilots are being subjected to conditions and treatment reminiscent of bonded labourers. There have been instances where Human Resources resorted to threatening pilots with potential disruptions to their future, accompanied by severe consequences. Threatening pilots with disruptions to their future is not only unethical but also creates a hostile and intimidating work environment,” the two unions added.