BENGALURU: Several flights out of Kempegowda International Airport were cancelled on Monday, but passengers of an Air India flight to Hyderabad were upset as they learned of the cancellation of their flight only after they reached the airport.
It was sheer chaos with a group of people shouting at an airline executive for failing to inform passengers about the cancellation. The flight was to take off at 8am.Ranganadh Kotta, a software engineer, said, “I spent Rs 1,500 on a taxi to reach here from Bellandur. Now we will spend a similar sum to get back home. I am demanding that Air India at least reimburse my return fare for my cab.”
Preksha Dokar, a researcher, said that all that was needed was one SMS alert. “After reaching here, we looked at the board and found out that the flight was not running,”Preksha added.The AI executive assured the passengers that fares would be refunded within 48 hours.
Dr Sreedevi C and her friend Dr Vijayanthi were upset as they are about to start their postgraduate course in radiology at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences. “We need to report for the start of the PG program by tomorrow. That is why we booked our flight ticket today. We reached the airport at 5.30am for the flight. We are shocked to know that it is cancelled,” she said.
They ran back and forth between counters to check for other flights to Hyderabad. “It is a question of our future. Even if they had informed us through SMS or email, we would have at least booked tickets on another airline. Now, we just have to go back home,” she said.Air India was unavailable for comment.
KIA breaks the silence
KIA, which has been a silent airport since its inception in 2008, made announcements on Monday, cautioning people to stay safe during the pandemic. A scroll being displayed also warned people against smuggling, as checking has become less intense to the necessity of avoiding contact
Went on smoothly: CEO
Ensuring that everything was in place to run flights was a challenge, Hari Marar, CEO of airport operator Bengaluru International Airport Limited, told TNIE. “Everything went on smoothly. The problems you see are the teething ones and they would automatically get sorted out in a couple of days,” he said.
Single-digit occupancy for short-distance flights
Star Air, which operates short-haul flights under the UDAAN scheme, took a beating on the opening day. It operates Embraer 145 aircraft with a seating capacity of 50. The first flight from KIA to Belagavi at 7.35 am had only 8 tickets booked, the second one to Kalaburgi had 29 tickets purchased, while the final one to Hubballi, which left at noon, had an occupancy of only 6.