Flight cancellations were beyond control: Air India

KOCHI: Cancellation of Air India Express flights in September was due to reasons beyond the control of the management, Air India submitted to the Kerala high court on Friday.

Responding to a petition that challenged frequent cancellation of flights as well as demanded provision for alternative arrangements, Air India filed a seemingly brief affidavit, which, however, did not state the exact reason for the cancellations.

Air India Express operates 50 flights from Calicut and 17 flights from Thiruvananthapuram and 28 flights from Cochin to Middle East every week. However, between September 17 and 28, due to reasons beyond the control of the management of Air India Express, 11 flights from Calicut, six from Thiruvananthapuram, and one from Cochin had to be cancelled, the affidavit stated.

Further, Air India pointed out that upon cancellation, passengers were given alternative flights as well as hotel accommodation and surface transportation or rebooking tickets for another date without any additional charge or full refund. No individual passenger raised a complaint in this regard, the affidavit said.

The petition filed by Centre for Non Resident Indians and Returnees through advocate Sivan Madathil had alleged that though passengers book their tickets well in advance, it has become a practice with Air India to cancel flights without any advance notification or valid reason.

Taking advantage of this, private airline operators increase fares all of a sudden. Frequent cancellation is aimed at creating the impression that Air India Express is a failure and is intended to help private airline operators, the petitioner had alleged.

Cancellation of Air India Express flights in September was due to reasons beyond the control of the management, Air India submitted to the Kerala High Court on Friday.

Responding to a petition that challenged frequent cancellation of flights as well as demanded provision of alternate arrangements, Air India filed a seemingly brief affidavit, which, however, didn't state the exact reason for the cancellations.

Air India Express is operating 50 flights from Calicut and 17 flights from Trivandrum and 28 flights from Cochin to Middle East every week. However, during the period from 17th to 28th September due to the reasons beyond the control of the management of Air India Express, 11 flights from Calicut, 6 from Trivandrum, one from Cochin had to be cancelled, the affidavit stated.

Further, Air India has pointed out that upon cancellation of flights, passengers were given alternate flights to their destinations including hotel accommodation and surface transportation, or rebooking the tickets for another date without any additional charge, or full refund. No individual passenger has raised a complaint in this regard, the affidavit said.

The petition filed by Centre for Non Resident Indians and Returnees through advocate Sivan Madathil had alleged that though passengers have booked their tickets well in advance, it has become a practice with Air India to cancel flights without any advance information or valid reason.

Taking advantage of the frequent cancellation of flights by Air India, private airline operators increase fares all of a sudden. Frequent cancellation of flights by Air India is aimed at creating the impression that Air India Express, the low cost operation by Air India, is a failure and is intended to help private airline operators, the petitioner had alleged.

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