Air India suspends 10 cabin crew members over protest against new room-sharing policy

Tata Group-owned Air India (AI) on Monday suspended 10 cabin crew members for allegedly instigating other members to protest against the airline's revised policy, said a report by news agency PTI citing a source.

Ahead of the Air India-Vistara merger in November, AI has introduced a revised policy for cabin crew members that requires a section of them to share rooms during layovers. The policy will be effective from December 1.

Opposing the room-sharing requirement, the All India Cabin Crew Association termed it as "illegal, bad in law, and Void ab initio on multiple fronts." It has also sought the intervention of the Union labour ministry to resolve the issues.

Under the revised policy, cabin crew members will be required to share rooms during layovers except for cabin executives and those operating ultra-long-haul flights ahead of the merger.

Cabin crew members on ultra-long-haul flights will get single rooms during layovers as well as during unscheduled layovers in the event of a flight diversion.

Cabin executives, who are senior members with around 8 years of flying experience, will also get single rooms during layovers.

Generally, ultra-long-haul flights are those having a duration of 16 hours or more.

After merger

After the merger, Air India and Vistara will have a combined staff strength of around 25,000, including about 12,000 cabin crew members.

Loss-making Air India was acquired by the Tata Group in January 2022 and since then, various changes have been introduced to boost the full-service carrier.

The cabin crew association has also written to Air India Chief Campbell Wilson, urging him "not to violate" the existing status quo, and to respect the sanctity of the Industrial Tribunal and the pending Industrial dispute over the issue.

It has demanded hotel accommodation and conditions of accommodation in line with the policy on accommodation for pilots, as per the previous agreements and tribunal awards.