Grounded frequent flyers forced to take train or car, lose business hours

LUCKNOW: The ongoing crisis has hit travel plans of frequent flyers from Lucknow. These include lawyers, business persons, doctors and corporate executives who fly at least once or twice to Delhi or Mumbai to attend meetings, conferences or court hearings.

Mrityunjay Kumar

, a city-based gold dealer, said he has suffered huge losses due to the crisis. “I fly to Delhi every Thursday and Sunday, and to Mumbai every Monday for my business meetings and deals. But with some planes grounded, I’m unable to book tickets in other

flights

.”

Sameer Shah, director in a software company, is a frequent flyer to Delhi. “I mostly take morning flights as I have to attend meetings with top management and international clients. It’s not possible for me to travel by road as it will take seven to eight hours to reach Delhi. I’m facing lot of problems due to ground of aircraft.”

People fighting court cases in the national captial too have been affected by grounded planes. “I’m fighting a court case in Delhi and have to travel to the city frequently to attend hearings. Due to shortage of flights, I am now forced to travel by train or road which takes several hours,” said AK Saxena, a resident of Gomtinagar extension.

“Being a doctor, I receive call from hospitals in Delhi and Mumbai. I frequently visit the two cities to attend to patients. With flights tickets unavailable at short notice, I am forced to travel by train or road,” said Dr. Wasiq Rehman.