Shortage Of Cabin Crew Behind Domestic Air India Flights Getting Delayed

New Delhi: Air India flights operating in the domestic sector are reportedly witnessing delays due to a shortage of cabin crew. Last week, the airline saw at least six flights to US and Canada getting delayed due to the unavailability of cabin crew.

Officials close to the development said flights are getting stuck on the ground due to engineering-related issues, Hindustan Times reported.

“Mumbai bound AI-805 to Delhi which was to return to Mumbai at 7.30 pm was also delayed and it was rescheduled to 4 am,” the official was quoted as saying.

It is learnt that Air India is trying to bring back the crew who applied for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) earlier in November in order to fill the crew crunch.

“The shortage of cabin crew has caused Delhi-based crew to fly almost in excess of the annual directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) limit of 1,000 hours,” the official said adding, more than 200 of them have flown overtime and cannot be used to operate flights for the coming two months.

“The airline has asked Mumbai, Chennai and other bases crew to Delhi to operate flights on three-week postings, which is not permissible according to DGCA norms,” the official said alleging that Air India is flouting aviation regulator- Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)’s rules for ultra long haul flights (for US and Canada) due to shortage of B777 cabin crew in Delhi.

“The airline has forced crew to travel Deadhead (passenger in uniform) to Delhi and then undertake ultra long haul flights without mandated pre-flight rest of 36 hours and two local nights and made it two landings,” a senior crew was quoted as saying.

Crew duty periods are counted from the time of reporting at the airport (two hours before a flight) and end 30 minutes after landing at their final destination.

“The route patterns provided have flight rosters exceeding 22:50 and even 23 hours of flight duty for the crew and are endangering safety through fatigue,” the crew alleged.