Mumbai/Bangalore, May 11:
The Air India flight cancellations
have disrupted the holiday plans of several travellers.
However, it is the Middle-East
carriers that are benefitting from the present imbroglio.
Travel agents and tour operators
said that Middle-East carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad are
seeing a rise in their load factors.
“These flights are almost 90 per
cent full,” said a Mumbai-based travel agent. In fact, there has been a drastic
shift of travel preference for other carriers as a result to AI flight
cancellations.
“The immediate impact has been five
to six per cent drop in the load factors of Air India. Even the others who have
not made their bookings in Air India now prefer these airlines,” said Mr Iqbal
Mulla, President, Travel Agents Association of India.
However, the shift to other
international carriers has come at price for travellers.
“The air fares of international
carriers are up 10-20 per cent, as most of the low-fare seats in the foreign
airlines have already been sold out. Passengers, who are faced with a sudden
flight cancellation, have the last bargain seats which are costlier,” said Mr
Jimmy Alexander, Bangalore-based travel agent.
The Air India flight cancellations
also had a fallout on the domestic sector. “The travellers prefer to fly with
airline companies like Jet Airways and low-cost carriers like Indigo,” Mr Mulla
said.
Air India Express flights to
Kozhikode, Tiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Madurai were affected due to the
pilots' strike that entered its fourth day on Friday leaving scores of
travellers stranded.
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