History repeated itself on Saturday, when 900 IndiGo flights were delayed across India due to the lack of availability of cabin crew and staff.

According to an airline official, the situation arose due to sick leaves.

“The phase-2 of Air India’s recruitment drive was conducted on Saturday and majority of IndiGo’s cabin crew members who took sick leave went for it,” the official told PTI. 

This isn’t the first time that IndiGo employees have refused to show up to work on the pretext of sick leaves. The tool has come in handy for frustrated staffers, who want to make a crucial point. 

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Back in April, several IndiGo pilots decided to go on a mass sick leave as an act of rebellion against “unjust” salary cuts.  A commanding pilot, who wished to remain anonymous during an interview with The Sunday Guardian, revealed that the company did not restore old salaries that took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, even after resuming 100% of its operations post-pandemic.

“When the airline has started operations in full capacity and we pilots are doing the exact number of hours of flying as in pre-Covid level, why would we take a salary which is almost 22% less than what we were getting back in 2019-2020. We have raised this issue with the management, but what we got in return was like a slap on our faces. We have been reduced to bonded labourers,” the pilot said.

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April’s mass sick leave resulted in the suspension of 10 pilots, who, according to a source, were “suspended for activities that are in contravention to the terms of their employment and in violation of the code of conduct.”

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Mass absence is just one of the many ways that IndiGo staffers have used to express their discontentment. From behaving impolitely with passengers to poor in-flight services, the demeanor of IndiGo employees sheds a bright light on a silent rebellion brewing inside cockpits.