Over 30 AIE flights canceled in Kerala, putting thousands in difficulty

Putting tens of thousands of passengers in difficulty, Air India Express canceled/delayed more than 90 international and domestic flights, with some crew members reporting sick en masse on May 7.

Kerala has been worst hit by the flight disruptions as the airline is the state’s largest player in the international sector.

More than 30 services, each flight having a capacity to carry 180 passengers, have been canceled in Kerala alone. As many as nine services, including three arrivals and four departures, were canceled at the Thiruvananthapuram airport while the airline canceled seven services, including four arrivals and three departures, at the Cochin International Airport.

As many as 12 services from Calicut International Airport and four services from Kannur Airport were canceled till evening.

Expressing their protest, passengers said the airline did not inform them about the cancellation in time. The airline’s offer to refund the tickets or tickets on another date failed to appease them.

Pradeep, who is traveling to Muscat from Thiruvananthapuram, said he had to report to his workplace on Thursday morning as his visa would expire on Friday.

Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram-Sharjah, Thiruvananthapuram-Abu Dhabi, Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai, Thiruvananthapuram-Muscat and Thiruvananthapuram-Bengaluru flights have been cancelled.

At Cochin airport, flights to Sharjah, Bahrain, Dammam and Muscat between 2:05 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. were canceled. A previous flight to Dubai took off after midnight. Among the canceled flights was the one to Bangalore scheduled for 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

It is also unclear whether the airline will resume full-fledged scheduled services on Thursday, as calls to the airline’s office went unanswered.

This disruption will have a cascading effect on the air network. The disruptions will therefore last at least for the next few days and it will take time to fully resume operations, an airline source said.

(with the contribution of regional offices)