Air India Express cancelled more than 100 flights since Tuesday night as a section of cabin crew reported sick to protest against the alleged mismanagement at the Tata Group-owned airline, impacting around 15,000 passengers.

Scores of flights have also been delayed and the airline’s passengers, mostly scheduled to travel to the Gulf nations, protested at against flight cancellations as many of them were informed only after the security checks.

The civil aviation ministry on Wednesday sought a report from Air India Express on the flight cancellations and also asked the airline to resolve the issues promptly.

Social media erupted with passenger frustration over the lack of communication from the airline. Many reported receiving last-minute notifications or no information at all about the cancellations.

Tagging civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, a passenger took to X and wrote, “Sir disappointed with the service by Air India Express. My flight is at 11:30pm from Bangalore to Delhi, while arriving airport on checking the attendant said delay by 2 hours. No message given of delay.”

Discontent has been brewing among a section of the cabin crew at the low-cost carrier for some time now, especially after the start of the process to merge AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, with itself.

Air India Express will curtail flights for the next few days to cope with non-availability of crew members, CEO Aloke Singh said on Wednesday.

In a message to the airline’s staff, Singh said since last evening, more than 100 cabin crew members have reported sick prior to their rostered flight duty, “at the last minute, severely disrupting our operations”.

Tata Group-owned Air India Express operates around 360 flights daily in the ongoing summer schedule that started in late March.

Air India Express Employees Union, in a letter to the chairman of Air India Natarajan Chandrashekharan, alleged that the airline is being mismanaged and there is a lack of equality in the treatment of staff, which has affected the morale of the employees.

“It is with great disappointment that we address the growing unrest and dissatisfaction among the employees since the takeover by Tata. Despite assurances of job security, salary maintenance, and respect for seniority and experience, there has been a stark departure from these commitments,” the letter said.