Air India pilots being promoted to wide-body planes ahead of us: Vistara pilots to top brass

Vistara pilots allege being sidelined for promotions and perks ahead of merger with Air India, raising concerns over fairness.

More than 80 pilots at Vistara have written to Tata Sons Chairman N. Chandrasekaran and the airline’s CEO Vinod Kannan alleging that they had been sidelined for promotions, ahead of Vistara’s merger with Air India next month.

In the letter to the top brass on Sunday evening, a copy of which was reviewed by The Hindu, Vistara captains expressed displeasure at Air India pilots being promoted to widebody aircraft as well as to the position of trainers ahead of them. They alleged that this violated the career progression list prepared by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) for the pilots of the two airlines for the upcoming merger, which stated that for every Vistara pilot promoted to widebody planes, three from Air India would be upgraded based on the staff strength of the two airlines.

Ever since the BCG list was finalised, Air India had promoted 100 captains and moved them to twin-aisle Boeing 787, while only five had been upgraded in Vistara, they alleged.

Calling this violation a “transgression”, the pilots wrote that this meant there would be “fewer vacant slots for conversion from narrow-body to wide-body airplanes” once they were part of the enlarged Air India.

In his response via email on Tuesday evening, which was also reviewed by The Hindu, the CEO wrote that the implementation of the career progression list for Vistara pilots for promotions to widebodies and for the post of trainers would take place post the merger.

Vistara will merge into Air India on November 12, when both airlines will operate under the AI code and flight bookings will be shifted to the latter’s website.

Vistara pilots asserted in the mail that they were the “original Tata Sons employees”, while Air India was only acquired in 2022 and, therefore, various schemes were contrary to the “principle of natural justice”.