M A I N   N E W S

37 A-I flights from Gulf cancelled

Dubai, April 27
India’s domestic carrier Indian Airlines has stepped in to lift stranded passengers from the Gulf after Air-India cancelled 37 flights from the region beginning today till the end of the month due to the strike by its pilots over the SARS epidemic even as 15 more agitating pilots were suspended for refusing to operate and abandoning flights.

“Nearly 45 per cent of the flights from the Gulf have been cancelled due to the strike and the stations most affected are Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat,” Mr P. P. Singh, Regional Director of Air-India, said.

“Flights from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar are largely unaffected,” he said, adding that 37 flights out of 75 had been cancelled.

The worst affected are flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi as 23 flights from the two stations have been cancelled. Of the 37 cancelled flights, 13 are from Dubai, 10 from Abu Dhabi 6 from Muscat, three from Dammam, two from Jeddah, and one each from Riyadh, Doha and Kuwait.

“We have prepared a new schedule for April 27 to 30. The passengers who were booked on the cancelled flights will be carried on other Air-India flights or will be endorsed on the Indian Airlines or if need be on other Gulf airlines,” Mr P.P. Singh said.

The Indian Airlines will operate additional flights and accommodate Air-India ticket holders on regular flights.

Mr P. P. Singh said since it was a lean season, some other Air-India flights which were not full could accommodate passengers booked on the affected schedules.

“We operated an additional Indian Airlines flight yesterday in the Delhi-Dubai sector and are ready to introduce more such flights if there are enough passengers” Mr R. C. Kathuria, Regional Director of the Indian Airlines, said.

“For the past three days, we have been accommodating Air-India passengers affected by the strike and we will continue to do so. We are in constant touch with the Air-India management and fully geared to meet the situation,” Mr Kathuria said.

The 200 members of the Indian Pilot Guild went on strike after refusing to fly to SARS-hit areas unless the management certified that the crew had not visited a SARS-hit area in the past 10 days for which the management suspended more than 10 pilots.

The management yesterday suspended 12 pilots and served letters to 50 others for their refusal to operate flights to Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuwait.

Mumbai: Air-India today suspended 15 more agitating pilots for refusing to operate and abandoning flights at various destinations in view of SARS outbreak, taking the total number of suspensions so far to 27.

The suspension is with immediate effect, pending an inquiry into their conduct, Air-India sources said here.

The inquiry would be conducted in terms of Clause (1) (A) of the Certified Standing Orders applied to the pilots, they said.

NEW DELHI: Toughening its stand against striking Air-India pilots, the government today asked them to withdraw their stir unconditionally and said action would be taken against all those who refuse to fly.

“The government is quite determined that they (striking pilots) withdraw their instructions unconditionally and fly,” Civil Aviation Secretary and Air-India Chairman K. Roy Paul said here.

If there were more pilots violating the rules and refusing to fly, action would be taken against them also, he told NDTV 24x7 channel. PTI