IndiGo flights from Goa were delayed after several airport employees decided to enact a flash strike. The airport staffers work for Agile, an IndiGo wholly-owned subsidiary that employs most ground crew. The strike arose after a dispute about when the employees would receive a planned salary increment.
Delays
According to the Times of India, the strike occurred in Goa Airport on Tuesday, 6th April. A section of employees from the IndiGo subsidiary Agile decided to hold a flash strike over the timing of pay increments. While IndiGo planned to include a pay increment for all employees with the salary for April, a small section of staffers wanted the increase immediately.
Seeing that flights continued to operate mostly smoothly through the day indicates that the strike was restricted to a few staffers. However, the sudden move meant that some IndiGo flights were affected by delays.
Data from RadarBox.com shows that three outbound IndiGo flights from Goa were affected by the strike. Flight 6E 653 to Chennai was delayed nearly 40 minutes from 17:55 local time, 6E 493 to Chandigarh was also late by 30 minutes from 14:40, and 6E 786 to Hyderabad saw a short 15-minute delay at 14:25.
There seem to be no inbound flights affected by the strike, according to flight data. No flights beyond 18:00 local time in or out of Goa seem to be have been delayed due to the strike, signaling that the strike was over by the night.
Pay dispute
Strikes are not an uncommon feature of airline employee unions. This time around, a debate over when pay increments will kick in seems to have left some staffers unhappy. In a statement explaining the disruptions to flights, an IndiGo spokesperson said,
“Employees of Agile, a 100% subsidiary company of IndiGo, have always received their salaries on time. We have not had any terminations even during the pandemic over the last one year…Despite this, a small section of them in Goa have caused disruption at work, asking for an immediate increment, while it has been promised to be included in the salary for Apr 2021. We want to reiterate our continued commitment to employee welfare and well-being.”
IndiGo highlight that it is one of the few Indian airlines to pay its employees full salaries and on time. With no further information available, it’s unclear if there were more demands to the strike than pushing for the pay increment a few weeks early.
As India’s top domestic leisure destination, Goa is a critical market for IndiGo. The airline operates nearly three dozen daily departures from the coastal airport, connecting cities from around the country. Management at IndiGo will likely push for a quick resolution to this strike, hoping to prevent any further delays.
