Air India Express, which was forced to cancel more than 100 flights since Tuesday night after a section of cabin crew went on mass "sick leave" to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned airline, terminated around 30 employees (cabin crew members).
According to airline sources, the employees were sacked after they did not report to work, and due to their behaviour, thousands of passengers suffered.
Media reports suggest that the airliner will terminate more employees and the management is expected to hold a townhall meeting with the cabin crew on Thursday.
In an e-mail to the affected employees, the airline said their decision to go on sick leave "pointed to a pre-mediated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason".
Their move "violated the Air India Express Limited Employees' Service Rules as are applicable to you".
According to the e-mail, the employees were rostered for a flight on Tuesday, but they informed the Scheduling team at the last moment that they were sick. "It is noted that at around the same time, an overwhelming number of other cabin crew members have also reported sick and not reported for their duties. This clearly points to a pre-mediated and concerted abstentation from work without any justifiable reason."
The airline noted that their action caused " tremendous inconvenience" to passengers.
"You will no longer be considered an employee; you will no longer have access to official mails, servers, other communication; and you and your dependants shall not be eligible for any employee-related benefits provided by the company," the e-mail read.
The cabin crew shortage has resulted in the cancellations of more than 100 flights since Tuesday night and around 15,000 passengers have been affected. More than 200 cabin crew had reported sick. Flight disruptions happened at various airports, including Kochi, Calicut, Delhi and Bengaluru. Domestic as well as international services, including to various Gulf countries, have also been hit.
There has been discontent among a section of the cabin crew of Air India Express for some time after the start of the process to merge AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself.
Late last month, a union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew alleged that the airline is being mismanaged and there is a lack of equality in the treatment of the staff.
In a message to the airline's staff, Air India Express CEO Aloke Singh on Wednesday said the decision of the cabin crew to call in sick had severely disrupted the operations.
"The disruptions have cascaded across the network, forcing us to curtail the schedules over the next few days. We had to do this to cope with the non-availability of crew and to recover schedules," Singh said.
Singh also said the company leadership is available for any discussions if there are concerns that need to be addressed.