BENGALURU: Chaos prevailed among GoFirst flyers at Kempegowda International Airport on Tuesday due to abrupt cancellations in the afternoon, though an official statement from the airline by evening said it had filed for bankruptcy and would not operate flights on May 3, 4 and 5.
The airline, which operates from Terminal One, has an average of 15 daily departures from Kempegowda International Airport. From 2.15pm to 5.15pm on Tuesday, five departing flights were cancelled. Flights to Lucknow (G8 808), Varanasi (G8 407), Goa (G8 542), Kochi (G8 542) and Ahmedabad (G8 803) did not take off. One morning flight, G8 802 to Port Blair, slated to depart at 10.50am, was also cancelled.
“There were many unhappy passengers and some angry ones shouting at the ground staff post lunch,” said a source. “Passengers are coming to know about the cancellations for the next two days too, and it is going to be very tough for ground airline staff,” he added. Another source confirmed that public surrounded the airline staff, demanding answers and refunds.
The airline’s spokesperson did not answer calls or messages from this reporter, and asked for a mail to be sent.
Roshan Kumar, who was travelling from Bengaluru to Ranchi to attend a friend’s wedding, told TNIE, “My ticket was booked for Wednesday (May 3) and it has been cancelled now. I booked the ticket for Rs 6,900 on April 29. The next day, I got a mail saying my flight timing had been changed from 9.15 am to 11 am. Now I am told it’s cancelled. I purchased a last-minute ticket now for Rs 8,900. After trying for 30 minutes, I was able to reach their call centre and someone agreed to refund my original ticket fare, but no details on when that would be done.”
Flyers took to social media to vent their ire. Libin Pixel tweeted: “Pathetic experience from GoFirst Airlines. I booked two tickets Kochi to Bangalore from them for the cardiac treatment of my father and they cancelled the flight. All the customer care numbers are switched off or not reachable.”