Budget carrier Air India Express cancelled around 80 flights without alerting the passengers on Tuesday evening and Wednesday following a cabin crew strike. Around 300 cabin crew called in sick, affecting the private airline's services in many locations.
Disagreements on the allocation of allowances led to the immediate strike, which was reportedly led by a handful of senior cabin crew members.
Though Air India, the parent company, has not announced any alternate facilities for the affected passengers, it is taking steps to process full or partial refunds of fares. The carrier also has asked passengers to check whether their flights are in service, before leaving for the airport. Around 100 passengers are stuck in various airports of Kerala and 30 Keralites are also stuck in Varanasi airport due to cancellation of flights. On its social media page, the airline said the passengers can either reschedule the flight in the next seven days or opt for full refunds.
Cancelled services
As of now, 19 services from Kerala -- three from Kannur, four from Kochi, eight from Kozhikode (two services on Tuesday and six on Wednesday) and four from Thiruvananthapuram -- and eight services from the UAE to Kerala have been cancelled.
The flights cancelled from Thiruvananthapuram are IX 537 TO Abu Dhabi which was scheduled for 1.10 am (145 passengers), IX 533 to Dubai (148 passengers) scheduled for 5 am, IX 545 (180 passengers) to Sharjah that was scheduled for 10.40 pm on Tuesday and IX 5013 (180 passengers) to Chennai. All Air India flights to Kochi from Sharjah, Muscut, Dammam and Bahrain also stand cancelled, reports said. The four international flights cancelled from Cochin airport are the Sharjah flight which was scheduled for 2.05 am, the Bahrain flight (8 am), the Dammam service (8.35 am) and the one to Muscat (8.50 am). A domestic flight from Cochin to Bengaluru, scheduled for 7 am, was also cancelled. Three flights from Kannur to Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Muscut, which were to depart last night were cancelled. In Thiruvananthapuram, the carrier promised passengers tickets for May 10 or 14, though similar promises were not made to passengers in other airports so far.