Pilots’ strike hits Kingfisher, Air India operations

NEW DELHI: Domestic operations in Delhi took a major hit on Thursday with Kingfisher Airlines cancelling about 15 outbound flights after its pilots went on strike. Air India’s international flights cancellations have already been creating confusion with its pilots on strike as well.
On Thursday, the national carrier cancelled 11 flights, both incoming and outbound, and rescheduled three with no end in sight to the pilots’ agitation.
“The situation has become absolutely absurd with pilots declaring a strike as and when they please. I was supposed to be in Jaipur on Thursday for a meeting but I am stuck in the capital now. In fact, Kingfisher cancelled both its flights to Jaipur,” said Arvind Joshi, an executive in a telecom company.
Shirley Jones, an Australian tourist realized it too late that she and her friends would have to spend the next few days in Delhi’s searing heat after their flight was also cancelled. “We had five days in Delhi so we bought tickets to Chandigarh from where we were to drive down to Shimla. However, Kingfisher cancelled its flight and other tickets are now too expensive,” she said.
Adding to the confusion was the fact that no information on further cancellations was forthcoming from the airline. Thursday’s cancellations included flights to Chandigarh, Shimla, Jaipur and Dehradun.
On the other hand, Air India stopped bookings on some of its international flights till May 13. “In case the flights do not operate at all, we will accommodate the passengers in other flights. We are not taking any fresh bookings and plan to clear the backlog through these flights, on the presumption that they operate at all,” said an official. Air India has been witnessing an average of 72% occupancy in its west-bound long-haul flights, which it why it has found it easy to combine flights. For the next few days, the occupancy has dropped to about 50-55% as bookings have been falling steadily.
The AI-101 to New York, scheduled to depart at 1.45am on Thursday, was delayed at the last minute to Thursday afternoon when the crew for the flight did not show up.
“Usually we get to know about three hours in advance whether a flight will operate or not since that is when the pilots are to report for duty. In this case however, the crew backed out at the last minute. The standby crew would have completed its mandatory rest-hours only in the afternoon so the flight was delayed,” said an Air India official.