The status quo of flight operations at the Kingfisher Airlines continued for the sixth day, with the cancellation of at least nine domestic flights from Mumbai throwing passengers into disarray.
According to the Kingfisher officials, flights bound towards Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, among others, were cancelled. A spokesperson for the airline said the situation is expected to continue. "At least nine flights were cancelled today from the Mumbai airport. There were no international flights among them. This situation will continue for the next seven days," he said. A couple of these flights — including at least two which were Delhi-bound — were clubbed. A clubbed flight refers to two flights who are going to the same destination which are converted into one and rescheduled.
In the absence of the promised list of cancelled flights which was to help regular passengers make decisions prior to their bookings, many were left in the lurch at the last minute and had to pay additional fares for bookings with the other airlines.
However, the airport was relatively chaos-free, as being a weekend, the passenger traffic at the airport was relatively lesser. Also, the cancelled flights were mostly on sectors which are being catered by several other airlines.
Many Kingfisher passengers DNA spoke to, expressed uncertainty about their flights. "There have been several reports about cancellations of flights in the past week, thus we are unsure if our flights will be affected," was the common refrain. The company's assurances that the cancellations are a part of a "well-thought out plan" were not enough to calm passengers' fears.
Travel agents claim that Kingfisher is the least preferred option amongst air travellers in the present season and those who had already made bookings are either cancelling them and going for other airlines.
Vikas Sharma of Monarch Travels in Andheri has been receiving several calls for cancellations from those who booked tickets from him. "There were two couples who had booked their tickets for Bangkok in December. However, their apprehension about the availability of the flight made them opt for another airline. There were many other inquiries from film personalities about the status of their flights. Most of them have shifted to other airlines." he said.
However, those passengers anxiously waiting for their Kingfisher flights to arrive on Saturday found them to be on time.
