Air India sacks cabin crew member for habitually delaying flights

Air India, the national carrier, on Tuesday terminated the services of one of its cabin crew members for allegedly delaying its flights from Jeddah for several months by "refusing" to fly citing "inadequate" rest, sources said.

"It has been decided by the competent authority to terminate your services... accordingly your services stand terminated with immediate effect," said an order issued by the AI general manager for in-flight services.

Air India has paid one month's salary as per the employment contract to the sacked cabin crew in lieu of the one-month notice period, the termination order said.

"The sacked cabin crew was a habitual offender and a number of flights had been delayed because of him. In the last 2-3 months alone, more than 10 flights were delayed because of his late arrival or no arrival," a senior Air India official said here tonight.

Last week, during one of the flights from Jeddah to Mumbai via Hyderabad, the pilots left after the now terminated cabin crew made an "excuse" of DGCA-mandated rest guidelines, sources said adding that "he was always misinterpreting the DGCA norms on duty time limitations".