The Hindu : National : Business as usual at Delhi airport; services not affected

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Thursday, Mar 13, 2008
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Business as usual at Delhi airport; services not affected

Parul Sharma

NEW DELHI: The first day of the “non-cooperation movement” launched by the Airports Authority Employees Union did not disrupt flight operations and airport services at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here on Wednesday.

“All flights were on time. Operations were not affected. Flight as well as ground operations went without a hitch,” said an airline official.

“I boarded a flight from Chennai airport around 8 a.m. that reached on time. I have to go to Udaipur and my flight has been delayed by over three hours due to some operational glitch, but the airline informed me about it in advance. I did not see anyone sloganeering or any such thing at Chennai in the morning and things have been fine at Delhi too so far,” said Cecil Maben, a passenger. Sudhir Narsimhan, who came from Mumbai, also said it was a routine affair at both the airports and the functioning was smooth.

Passengers coming from airports such as Vadodara and Lucknow also said operations were normal and the employees’ agitation did not hamper work. However, S. Mitra, coming from Kolkata, said there was no water in the washrooms at the airport there and the flight information display system was not working. Resultantly, airlines had to make announcements on the public address system.

Delhi International Airport Limited, which manages IGI Airport, said they had pressed into service their staff as well as personnel from other agencies to ensure that there were no disruptions.

About 1,800 employees working at both the terminals and the cargo at IGI Airport were off work on Wednesday as the Union Government did not respond to the AAEU’s main demand to keep the existing Bangalore and Hyderabad airports open even after the new Greenfield airports become operational.

AAEU president S.R. Santhanam said around 15,000 staffers at all the 127 airports did not report for work.

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