Urgent intervention of PM sought
Thiruvananthapuram, Sept. 23:
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has strongly protested the repeated instances of cancellation of fights operating in the West Asian sector.
Coming on top of the steep hike in fares, cancellation of flights have brought untold misery to thousand of passengers from various destinations in the State.
WRITES TO PM
The Chief Minister conveyed his protest to the Prime Minister, sought his urgent intervention in the matter through alternative arrangements.
He also cited the demand for an exclusive airline that the State government proposed to launch as a permanent solution to West Asian travellers’ woes.
The State government is ready to launch the service provided the Centre granted the clearances. Chandy requested the Prime Minister to clear the proposal at the earliest.
The Chief Minister’s communication was prompted by the latest incident involving Saturday’s cancellation of an Air India Express flight from here bound for Sharjah. Passengers, including women and children, streaming into the airport for the early morning flight were greeted with the news about the cancellation.
TOUGH TIME
They had a tough time what with the airline not being able to come up with any alternative arrangements for their evacuation. The Chief Minister said that, on an average, 11 flights were being cancelled from the three international airports in the State for one reason or another.
Cancellations were reported the most from Thiruvananthapuram (six); Karipur (Kozhikode international airport) had reported three and Cochin International airport, two.
Chandy recalled that he had on several occasions in the past brought to the Centre’s attention the plight of passengers flying in the West Asian sector.
He had mentioned this in the memorandum he had submitted to the Prime Minister when the latter visited Kochi to inaugurate the Emerging Kerala Global Connect event earlier this month.
AJIT singh COMING
Meanwhile, sources said that Ajit Singh, Union Minister for Civil Aviation, has agreed to visit Kerala to look into repeated cancellation of flights from the State.
Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament representing Thiruvananthapuram, had met with the Union Minister in this regard.
Sources quoted Tharoor as saying that the Union Minister had promised that he would ensure that such abrupt cancellations do not recur.
On an average, 11 flights are being cancelled from the three international airports in the State for one reason or another.
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