Merging two airlines into one is a task fraught with risk, as Air India and Indian Airlines learnt to their discomfiture more than a decade and a half ago when a merger was forced on them by then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, overriding concerns voiced, including by this newspaper, that the scheme was hare-brained.
The present Minister, Jyotiraditya Scindia, may have little to do with the merger pangs being faced by Air India and Vistara, or by Air India Express and the former AirAsia India, but the difference this time round, and one that he must address, is that passengers are being put to severe inconvenience while being asked to pay extortionate fares for flights that are seemingly cancelled at whim. The consequences of the disruptions caused by industrial action resorted to by pilots of Vistara last month and the cabin crew of Air India Express this week, have been two-fold. First, supply has been unable to keep up with the demand for airline seats, resulting in huge increases in fares. Second, with the holiday season having begun, passengers are being forced to redraw itineraries at considerable cost and inconvenience. In addition to the problems being faced by Vistara and Air India Express, there are additional complications posed by the withdrawal of several of its aircraft by Indigo because of problems with Pratt & Whitney engines, and curtailed operations by Spicejet, which is struggling to survive.
And finally, of course, it has been a year since GoAir was grounded after its owners filed for bankruptcy. While Mr Scindia cannot be blamed for the way airlines are managed, or mismanaged, the government, as a regulator, has a responsibility to citizens ~ of ensuring safe, troublefree and fairly priced air travel. In this task, Mr Scindia has failed abysmally. Air India Express has responded to the step taken by its cabin crew ~ of “reporting sick” without notice ~ by sacking several of them. Clearly the airline hopes the severity of this action will force other “sick” crew members to regain their health and good sense. Termination letters have accused the crew members of acts “subversive of public interest”, and of causing damage ~ monetary and reputational ~ to the company.
While all this is true, it must also be admitted that there has been little engagement between the airline and its staff, to understand grievances of the latter and to attempt to find solutions. Leaving the dispute to be handled by the Labour department of the Delhi government will clearly not yield a solution, and it is here that the Ministry of Civil Aviation tasked with “formulation of national policies and programmes for the development and regulation” of the sector must step in. The fact of an impending election must not stop Mr Scindia from immediately choosing to play an effective role in resolving the issues that are causing such great distress to passengers.