The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Passengers stranded as flight cancellations continue

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Tuesday, Feb 05, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Passengers stranded as flight cancellations continue

Ananth Krishnan

Deccan airlines flight to Vijayawada cancelled on Monday

CHENNAI: Around 50 passengers were left stranded at the Chennai airport on Monday morning as Deccan airlines cancelled its flight to Vijayawada just an hour and a half before it was meant to take off. Airline sources said that a “technical snag” had grounded the plane.

Passengers complained that they had been given no prior warning about the cancellation of the flight, as is the usual practice. They were informed when they arrived at the check-in counter at the airport. “Airlines are supposed to call passengers before-hand to inform them about delays let alone cancellations, but we were not able to make any alternate arrangements because we weren’t informed,” one passenger said.

Monday’s incident is the latest in an increasing trend of late cancellations by several airlines. D. Sudhakara Reddy, president, Air Passengers Association of India, said that his organisation had been receiving a number of complaints about flight cancellations, especially by low cost carriers.

“There have been more than half a dozen complaints just in the last two months,” he said.

Shortage of pilots

While airlines officially maintain that “technical snags” are the reason for cancellations, shortages of pilots, aircraft and inventories juxtaposed with increasingly intense airline schedules have worsened the problem.

As a result of shortages, many pilots have already reached the 1,000 hours flying limit mandated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. “During December, a lot of expatriate captains are given leave for Christmas and New Year, and the Indian captains have to stay back and fly. At least 26 pilots are already sitting on 1,000 hours so they simply cannot keep on flying. When diversions and delays eat up duty-time, airlines simply don’t have the pilots,” a senior pilot said.

Inadequate inventories

Another problem airlines face is inadequate inventories of aircraft parts in airports around the country.

This frequently leads to flight cancellations as the required parts often have to be flown in from other airports.

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