Akasa Air has initiated legal proceedings against many pilots who allegedly abandoned their duties and parted ways with the airline without serving the mandatory notice period leaving the airline and passengers in lurch.

"Not only is this illegal in law but also an unethical and selfish act that disrupted flights in August forcing last-minute cancellations that stranded thousands of customers causing significant inconvenience to the travelling public," the airline said in a statement.

More than 10,000 passengers have been affected due to flight delays and cancellations in July and August forcing the airline to pay more than Rs 1 crore as compensation.

Sources tell CNBC-TV18 that several Akasa Air pilots have joined Air India Express which operates Boeing 737 planes. These unaccounted exits possibly led to a pilot shortage, hitting the airline's overall performance which was otherwise scaling higher and the numbers are reflecting that pain.

After growing steadily for several months, Akasa Air's market share fell from 5.2 percent in July to 4.2 percent in August. Being the top on-time performer (OTP) for three consecutive months with a 90-plus ranking, Akasa Air's OTP took a hit in June falling to 87.6 and deteriorated further in August to 81.4.

It appears that the pilot shortage worsened since July after which the airline suffered major delays beyond 2 hours and had to cancel flights mostly due to unavailability of cockpit crew.