After crew, IndiGo technicians are calling in sick: What's going on?

Earlier this month hundreds of the cabin crew members of the IndiGo airlines called in sick to attend Air India’s recruitment drive in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru, now several aircraft technicians at IndiGo are on sick leave since Friday.

Why are technicians taking sick leaves?

At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, several private companies across the country had cut salaries of their employees, IndiGo too had followed suit.

According to Business Standard, the airline partially restored salaries of its pilots and cabin crew and made changes to its human resource (HR) policies. However, some technicians in Hyderabad called in sick for Friday night’s shift and did not come for the morning shift on Saturday as well.

Aircraft engineers from other bases also skipped work on Sunday demanding a revision in salary.

Also read: Why hundreds of IndiGo crew called in sick

Why are employees unhappy with IndiGo?

IndiGo was India’s only profitable airline before the pandemic. The aviation sector was among the worst hit by the lockdowns across the world.

The IndiGo crew has been unhappy because the pay cuts enforced during the pandemic continue even though restrictions have been lifted and there is a revival in the demand for air travel.

In April, pilots went on mass sick leave and the airlines suspended some for “violating terms of employment and company”. “We confirm that a handful of IndiGo pilots have been suspended from duty for indulging in activities that are in contravention to the terms of their employment and in violation of the code of conduct of the Company,” the airline had said. IndiGo pilots saw a 28 per cent salary cut and their flying allowances have been halved, The Hindu reported in April.

These protests against IndiGo’s administration have come at a time when rivals like Air India, Akasa Air and Jet Airways have been conducting recruitment drives.

How did it impact air travel?

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation's website, 45.2 per cent of IndiGo's domestic flights operated on time on Saturday. The on-time performances of Air India, SpiceJet, Vistara, Go First and AirAsia India was 77.1 per cent, 80.4 per cent, 86.3 per cent, 88 per cent and 92.3 per cent, respectively.

With inputs from agencies

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