Vistara's management may have announced the measures to 'stabilise' the operations, but the crisis seems to be far from ending. The Tata Group airline is planning to send first officers from Air India on deputation to Vistara as a resolution of the crisis, but this may not resolve the issue immediately, two people familiar with the matter told NDTV Profit.
Firstly, pilots on deputation from Air India will have to undergo a 21-day ground training along with the simulator and line training, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation norms. Moreover, the first officers will have to undergo compulsory training of nearly 40 days as mandated, one of the person quoted above said.
Vistara and Air India are two airlines of Tata Group, but as of now any pilot exchange to carry out operations can only be done after the formal training procedure is completed, the people said.
Air India is already operating with a shortage of first officers, said the second person quoted above. Most Air India flight operations are being carried out with 'One-Way Command,' which means two captains are handling the cockpit operations, the person added.
Even if the pilots flying Airbus A320 for any other airlines are hired by Vistara, their training will take at least two to three months to be completed, said both the persons quoted above.
"We are carefully scaling back our operations by around 25-30 flights per day, i.e. roughly 10% of the capacity we were operating," Vistara's spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday. "This will take us back to the same level of flight operations as at the end of February 2024, and provide the much-needed resilience and buffer in the rosters."
NDTV Profit has reached out to the airline and a response is awaited.
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