Sick leave! Well, that’s the most-used term in the Indian aviation sector these days.

For the last 10 days, existing issues related to the workforce have come to the fore with employees reporting sick for duty across airlines. namely IndiGo and GoFIRST.

IndiGo, the largest Indian carrier which operates about 1,600 flights daily, had witnessed around 250-300 cabin crew reporting sick for duty and being on mass sick leave on July 2, which resulted in delays in more than 50 percent of its flights that day.

The mass no-show did not end with the cabin crew as a week later, a large number of technicians also reported sick in Delhi and Hyderabad. However the impact on flight operations was avoided.

The wave of mass sick leave further spread to another peer in the low-cost carrier space, GoFIRST, where several cabin crew took sick leave and even technicians have followed with a sizeable number reporting sick for duty at various bases in the country.

Now what are the reasons behind this mass bunk — people in the know say that firstly, it is a sign of silent protest against the low wages.

In many cases, the pre-COVID salaries and allowances have not been restored and also employees are simultaneously taking part in the recruitment drive by other airlines as well.

Going forward, while we are already seeing gradual restoration of salaries by several airlines as an attempt to address employee concerns, the writing on the wall is that there will be a significant churn in this industry as employees are expected to switch airlines for better pay with opportunities emerging in upcoming airlines as well as airlines like Air India, which are looking to expand. Normalisation of wages is only expected once the air traffic stabilises to pre-COVID level.

Watch video for more.