The former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha snapped that “Air India should be shut down because its culture is bad and nothing good will come out of it”.
Air India Express: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday, May 8 blared his heart out after he experienced “not so happy” moments, courtesy, of Air India.
The former Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha snapped that “Air India should be shut down because its culture is bad and nothing good will come out of it”.
Ghulam Nabi Azad was one of the thousands of flyers who were at the receiving end of the chaos created by the sudden cancellations of the Air India Express flights on Wednesday.
Interestingly, Ghulam Nabi Azad has served as the Union Civil Aviation Minister and after facing the cumbersome situation, said he never travelled by Air India. “When I was the civil aviation minister, Air India pilots called for a strike for 40 days. Then we brought the private airlines. But they (Air India) learnt no lesson,” said Ghulam Nabi Azad.
It is worth noting that Air India Express is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India.
Azad’s ordeal started after his Delhi-Srinagar flight was cancelled on Wednesday morning following which he took an IndiGo flight after waiting for about 4 hours in Delhi. “If the flights have been cancelled, they should have informed us in the morning itself. Why fool the passengers? So many people are being harassed,” said an upset and annoyed Azad.
Air India Express cancelled more than 80 national and international flights since Tuesday night as the airline faced significant disruption after several crew members reported being ‘sick’.
This led to flight delays and massive cancellations prompting Civil Aviation authorities to investigate the matter.
Air India in its statement said, “A section of our cabin crew has reported sick at the last minute, starting last night, resulting in flight delays and cancellations. While we are engaging with the crew to understand the reasons behind these occurrences, our teams are actively addressing this issue to minimise any inconvenience caused to our guests as a result. We sincerely apologise to our guests for this unexpected disruption and emphasise that this situation does not reflect the standard of service we strive to provide.”
For the travellers whose flights were cancelled, options included either receiving a full refund or rescheduling their journey.
According to reports, a section of cabin crew members called in sick to protest the alleged mismanagement at the airline.
The protest by the cabin crew came after the process to merge Air India Express with AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia) was initiated.