Vistara Has Announced Steps, But Pilot Crisis May Take Time To Resolve

Vistara’s management may have announced steps to tackle its ongoing crisis, but the resolution is expected to take time, sources have told NDTV Profit. Two people familiar with the matter have said that first officers from Air India will be sent to Vistara on deputation. But this may not resolve the matter immediately.

These first officers have to undergo compulsory training of nearly 40 days according to rules laid down by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. This includes a 21-day ground training with simulator and line training.

While both Vistara and Air India are part of the Tata Group, any pilot exchange can be effected only after a formal training, the sources said.

A source added that Air India is already operating with a shortage of first officers. Most Air India operations are being operated with One-Way Command, which means two pilots are handling cockpit operations due to shortage of co-pilots.

The sources said that even if Vistara hires pilots flying Airbus A320 for other airlines, their training will take at least two months.

Vistara yesterday said it is scaling back operations by 25-30 flights per day to ease the pressure on pilots. The airline underlined that it had improved its on-time performance over the past few days after a series of cancellations and delays. Pilots at Vistara, which is in the process of a merger with Air India, are not happy after they were given new contracts in which the fixed pay component has been reduced and there is more flying-linked incentive in the salary structure.

“We are carefully scaling back our operations by around 25-30 flights per day, i.e. roughly 10% of the capacity we were operating,” Vistara’s spokesperson said in a statement yesterday. “This will take us back to the same level of flight operations as at the end of February 2024, and provide the much-needed resilience and buffer in the rosters.”