Akasa Air to Cease Operations Following Resignation of Pilots?
Akasa Air, the youngest among all existing airlines in India, despite uncompromised services for the last 13 months, is in a “state of crisis” due to the resignation of several pilots. Disruption in operations due to the unethical behavior of leaving pilots without serving the notice period has affected the airlines, canceling over 700 flights.
The airlines are in an unprecedented crisis due to insufficient pilots. Canceling around 700 flights in August and is expected the same in September. Revoking about 24 flights a day has made Akasa request the court to enforce a mandatory rule for serving the notice period.
The airline is also seeking to act against the pilots’ unethical behavior and pursuing legal help to seek compensation of Rs 22 crores from each pilot for the revenue loss from the cancellation of flights and damaging the reputation of the airlines by the sudden exit and creating inconvenience for the stranded passengers.
“We have sought legal remedy only against a small set of pilots who abandoned their duties and left without serving their mandatory contractual notice period… Not only is this illegal in law but also an unethical and selfish… that stranded thousands of customers causing significant inconvenience to the passengers,” stated an Akasa Air spokesperson.
The pilots have reportedly joined a rival airline, to which Akasa wrote a letter to a top executive of that rival company expressing concern and calling it unethical. It takes almost six months to 1 year time to train a pilot. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate mandatory notice period rules.
Akasa Air CEO Dube stated that they are “prepared for unforeseen circumstances and have contingency management strategies” and are financially capable of coping with situations like this.
He added that they are confident and financially stable enough to overcome situations like this and not get diverted by speculative news. They are well prepared and have enough pilot training in various phases, and soon, they will expand their domestic and international services.
The airline accused the (DGCA) Director General of Civil Aviation of being passive and not stopping the pilots from quitting abruptly, which resulted in operational and financial disruption and defaming of the airline. Akasa also wrote to Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia before moving to the court, stating that foreign companies could take advantage of poaching approaches as such and, therefore, impact the entire aviation industry if not stopped.
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