The Hindu : Front Page : Passengers stranded as Sahara cancels flights

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 13, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Passengers stranded as Sahara cancels flights

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Hundreds of passengers were left stranded for hours at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Sunday after Air Sahara cancelled 11 flights in the wake of its pilots going on a day-long leave to protest a dispute over salary restructuring. (According to a UNI report, thousands of passengers were stranded across the country as the airlines cancelled or delayed dozens of flights)

The flights that were cancelled included Air Sahara's services from the Capital to Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Jaipur, Guwahati and Dibrugarh. While several passengers postponed their journey, those wanting to reach their destination urgently were accommodated on other domestic flights, including Jet Airways and Kingfisher.

Earlier, chaos prevailed among passengers when they were told of the flight cancellations. A few complained that they had not been given prior information about the cancellation. The airline authorities told the irate passengers that their ticket dealers had been informed well in advance.

Air Sahara was recently taken over by the Jet Airways management after signing of a merger deal.

According to a PTI report, Air Sahara put its executive pilots, who are part of the management, on flying duty to deal with the crisis. The worst may not be over yet as other employees of the carrier are also said to be unhappy with the salaries offered by their new masters.

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