Dozens of cabin crew at Air India Express called in sick earlier this week, forcing the budget carrier to cancel 85 flights since Tuesday evening and disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers.

The Indian carrier is “making every possible effort to minimize the inconvenience caused to our guests by this unexpected situation,” a company spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

“While we will continue to engage with our cabin crew colleagues with a commitment to address any concern, we are taking appropriate steps against certain individuals as their actions have caused grave inconvenience to thousands of our guests,” the spokesperson noted.

Air India Express operates more than 2,500 flights each week, servicing 45 domestic and international airports, according to its website.

Around 100 cabin crew called in sick “at the very last minute” late on Tuesday, a source familiar with the incident told CNN.

Some cabin crew had recently expressed unhappiness with the introduction of a merit-based performance system – one of the changes made since the airline’s privatization a little over two years ago, the source said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

“There’s obviously a few changes within the organization,” the source added. “But the airline has constantly engaged (its staff), which is why this (calling in sick) came as a very big surprise.”

Air India Express is a subsidiary of Air India, which was sold by the Indian government to Tata Group in January 2022. Since then, the Indian conglomerate has announced plans to merge Air India Express with AIX Connect, another of Air India’s subsidiary carriers.

Air India Express said in Thursday’s statement that passengers whose flight is canceled, or delayed by more than three hours, can get a full refund or reschedule their flight for free.

Air India will support the budget carrier through the current disruption by operating flights on 20 of its routes, it added. (CNN)

•PHOTO: An Air India Express Boeing 737 MAX passenger aircraft is seen during an event in Mumbai, India, in October 2023. Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images

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