Vistara CEO Apologizes To Customer, Assures To Stabilize Operations As 98% Of Pilots Sign New Contract

Vistara's CEO, Vinod Kannan, stated on Saturday that the airline aims to bring stability to its operations by the end of this weekend as over 98 per cent of the pilots have already agreed to the new contract.

Earlier this week, the full-service carrier experienced major disruptions in its operations due to crew unavailability, resulting in the cancellation of several flights.

In a statement, Kannan said the situation has already improved with its on-time performance improving for the last three days.

"We hope to stabilise our operations for the rest of April 2024 by this weekend," he said.

Referring to the new contract for pilots, he said, "With reference to concerns being raised regarding the new pay structure of our pilots, we would like to clarify that over 98% of pilots have signed the new contract."

According to PTI, Vistara has around 1,000 pilots.

A section of pilots have raised concerns about the new contract that will result in pay revision, sources had said earlier.

According to Kannan, the airline is addressing the current situation on a war footing and continuing to hire more pilots. He said in the statement, "We are addressing this on a war footing. Hence, we are continuing to hire more pilots and are also carefully scaling back our operations slightly to provide the much-needed resilience, and a buffer in the rosters."

The airline is also carefully scaling back operations slightly to provide the much-needed resilience, and a buffer in the rosters, he noted.

Further adding, Kannan said, "We have also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo aircraft on select domestic routes to accommodate more customers, wherever possible."

He also said that the airline is reaching out to 'all customers affected by the delays and cancellations over the last weekend', to offer relevant refunds and compensation.