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With the Air India pilots' strike entering its second day passengers continued to face the problem of flight cancellations.
Air India reduced its daily flight operations by 45 flights as part of the contingency plan drawn up by the national carrier.
“These cancellations have been done as per our contingency plan under which we had decided to operate only those flights for which pilots and cabin crew were available,” an Air India official said.
The national carrier will also not take any new booking for its domestic flights for the next five days.
As part of the contingency plan, the airline used its wide body Boeing 747 aircraft on the Mumbai-Delhi route in order to carry more passengers. A Boeing 747 has capacity to carry 413 passengers.
Some relief for travellers
There was some relief for travellers on Thursday as fares on private airlines stayed below the Government's permissible limit.
“The increase in fares is only related to the demand and supply situation and the last minute fares. There hasn't been an increase particularly on account of the pilots strike,” said a Jet Airways spokesperson.
The Ministry of Railways also decided to run special trains on important sectors to clear the extra rush of passengers due to the strike.
The special trains so far have been started in six important sectors: Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata, Delhi-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Hyderabad, Mumbai-Bikaner and Chennai- Bangalore.
The Railways has also decided to keep watch on the waiting list of the trains and attach additional coaches to clear extra rush subject to operational feasibility.
Air India also took steps to keep the passengers informed by strengthening its call centre to give out information about the flight status.
High Court gets tough
The Delhi High Court also came down heavily on striking pilots for defying its order to resume work. Ms Justice Gita Mittal termed the breach of order a very serious matter.
“You abide by the law, the court will ensure your requirement will be considered by the management,” Ms Justice Mittal told the striking pilots.
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