1,200 passengers return from Calicut airport amid AIE strike
Passengers, including pilgrims, had to abandon their travel plans and return home from Calicut Airport, following cancellation of flights by AIE triggered by a flash strike by cabin crew
Around 1,200 passengers, including pilgrims, had to abandon their travel plans and return home from Calicut International Airport at Karippur, following cancellation of flights by Air India Express (AIE) triggered by a flash strike by cabin crew.
Those who were getting ready for the flight after receiving the boarding pass as well as the passengers who came to the airport without knowing that their flights had been cancelled were left in the lurch. The abrupt cancellation of the flights had put the pilgrims for Umrah and those who were supposed to report for work within the stipulated time in a spot.
On Thursday, only the flights to Kuwait and Dubai were confirmed, while three other flights were cancelled.
AIE cabin crew are striking work to protest against alleged ‘mismanagement’ within the Tata Group airline.
Air India Express authorities informed that five flights have been cancelled from Karippur on Thursday.
Two flights that were scheduled to depart from Karippur were cancelled on Tuesday night.
Two services from Trivandrum airport and the flights from Kannur to Sharjah and Abu Dhabi were cancelled.
All flights scheduled to Kerala from UAE were called off till Monday. The passengers have not been informed about the refund or alternative arrangements yet.
Around 20 services that were supposed to arrive here were affected. Besides the flights to Dammam and Dubai that were cancelled on Tuesday night, the services to Ras Al Khaimah, Dubai, Jeddah, Kuwait, Doha and Bahrain between 8 am and 10 am, as well as the flight to Muscat at 11.10 pm were cancelled on May 8.
The return trips of these flights too have been affected by the cancellations.
Most passengers who were supposed to fly in the Jeddah flight at 8.50 am on May 8 were pilgrims to Mecca.
The pilgrims complained that they were informed about the cancellation only after they had reached the airport early in the morning.
Kasaragod native Subair Darimi who was part of the 40-member Umrah pilgrimage group said that he had faced difficulties as arrangements had already been made for their accommodation and return trip.
The Umrah agency representatives too said that they incurred huge financial loss due to flight cancellations.
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 Air Asia India, with itself. Air India Express cabin crew alleged that the airline is being mismanaged and there is a lack of equality in the treatment of the staff. As part of consolidating its airline business, Tata Group is merging Air India Express and AIX Connect, as well as Vistara with Air India.
Apologising to the customers for the ‘unexpected disruption’, AIE spokesperson said those impacted by the cancellations will be offered a full refund or complimentary rescheduling to another date.
The services cancelled from Kerala airports on Thursday are the Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Dammam flights from Kannur; Muscat, Bengaluru, Hyderabad flights from Trivandrum; evening flights to Kolkata and Muscat from Kochi; and Al Ain, Jeddah and Doha flights from Karippur. Several Air India Express flights from UAE are also cancelled on Thursday.
Flights to Kannur, Mangaluru, Tiruchirappalli and Amritsar from Dubai, the Sharjah — Kannur flight and the Al Ain — Kozhikode flight are some of them.
Air India Express is considering to tap the synergies with other Tata Group airlines, Air India and Vistara, to tackle the situation.
Air India will conduct services in the cancelled routes of the carrier Air India Express, according to reports. Air India will offer its services in 20 routes to minimise disruptions.