Crew shortage forces Air India to curtail US operations

Air India will temporarily suspend six of its 47 weekly non-stop flights to destinations in the United States for the next two to three months due to crew shortage, the airline's CEO Campbell Wilson said on Monday.

This comes at a time when non-stop India-US connectivity has picked up further ahead of the upcoming peak summer travel season.

"We will be reducing the frequency of the San Francisco and Newark non-stops by three each. In the next 2-3 months, the 100 pilots and 1,400 cabin crew in training will begin flying. The temporary crew shortage being witnessed on our Boeing 777 fleet will be resolved then," Wilson said.

In the past few weeks, several Air India non-stops have been delayed by several hours. For instance, last week saw a Chicago flight delayed by over a day and one from New York by over 10 hours.

With Air India reducing flights, India-US direct connectivity has taken another hit just ahead of peak travel season, something that could push fares — already at unprecedented levels — even higher.

"We are reducing frequency on routes where we can accommodate passengers on other flights. Air India was an airline that was shrinking (pre-privatisation) and is now growing fast again," the CEO said.

Wilson further said that a large number of aircraft that had been on ground for a long time are flying again.

"This has led to a temporary crew shortage, essentially cabin crew and some pilots, with the B777 being the most affected at the moment. This issue will be resolved soon. We are hiring 500 cabin crew every month. Almost 1,700 captains will come online, with less than 10 per cent (140) being expats," Wilson added.

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