Mass sick leaves are not unheard of but extremely extremely rare to actually see. It is also not something done just willy-nilly, usually, they have a reason, either some contagious disease spread through the employees or they are trying to protest against the higher management.
So the fact that Indian airline IndiGo’s flights were delayed by quite a large number the past weekend because a lot of its employees took a sick leave is definitely a reason to look into the cause of it.
I mean just planning a mass bunk in college was next to impossible, with always there being one or two pesky people who would go to class and force everyone else also to attend. So that IndiGo saw such so many cabin crew members take a mass sick leave is not to be taken lightly.
What Happened?
On Saturday, 2nd July 2022, over 55% of IndiGo domestic flights were delayed. As per the Ministry of Civil Aviation, “More than half of IndiGo flights were delayed on Saturday after a large number of inflight crew were reported sick. As a result, around 55 per cent of the total flights operated by the country’s largest airline were impacted on July 2.”
IndiGo is said to be operating around 1600 flights on a daily basis but on Saturday over 900 flights were delayed.
Interestingly though, 2nd July was the same day as when the second Air India recruitment drive was held. This has led to various industry sources alleging that a majority of the IndiGo crew that took a leave that day were instead at the recruitment drive trying to apply for Air India. Arun Kumar, the head of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has told PTI that they are also looking into this connection.
The alleged connection also led to it becoming excellent meme fodder with many netizens finding the situation hilarious.
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IndiGo has been seeing some restlessness and unhappiness from its staff and crew. As per reports during the height of the pandemic salaries of the pilots were cut down by almost 30%, and even though in April their salaries saw an 8% increase with another 6.5% increase planned in November, some pilots were not happy and tried to protest against the pay.
Due to this, the airline suspended 4 pilots in April just a day before they were going to carry out their strike.
But at the end of the day, all these connections are just alleged and have not been confirmed by anyone. IndiGo has yet to respond to any requests for comments on this matter and the DGCA is still investigating the matter.
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: The Indian Express, Business Standard, Firstpost
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: IndiGo, IndiGo flights, IndiGo flights delay, IndiGo cabin crew, IndiGo cabin crew sick leave, IndiGo mass sick leave, IndiGo domestic flight delay, IndiGo crew sick, Air India recruitment drive, Air India recruitment, Air India
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