By IANS,
Bangalore: The agitation by a section of pilots of the national carrier Air India had a marginal impact in India’s tech hub Monday, as only three out of 18 flights it operates daily were cancelled, an airline official said.
“Flights to Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata were cancelled as the aircraft did not land from these cities till afternoon,” Air India spokesperson V. Chandrashekar told IANS.
Passengers of the cancelled flights were accommodated in the aircraft of private carriers like Jet Airways and Kingfisher.
“No inconvenience was caused to passengers who have bookings on our flights. Due to weekend and Dusshera fest, the load was also less than other working days,” the official said.
Of the 18 flights Air India operates daily out of the Bangalore international airport at Devanahalli, about 35 km from the city, four are on international routes – Dubai, Muscat, Male and Singapore – and the remaining 14 to major cities across the country.
“Not many pilots are based in Bangalore. Most of them fly in from Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai and fly back in the same aircraft. A couple of aircraft land here for night halt to depart very early the following day,” Chandrashekar noted.
The state-run airline does not foresee major disruption out of Bangalore, as it has made arrangement with private and budget carriers to accommodate its passengers in the event of cancellation or delays.
A section of the airline’s executive pilots are on strike for the third day, seeking restoration of the productivity linked incentives that were discontinued to cut costs by the management of the cash-strapped carrier.