Kingfisher Airlines' operations continued to be affected and its passengers were put to hardship for a second successive day on Sunday with the airline failing to operate almost half the flights it was scheduled to from the major metros.
A figure on the number of flights affected on Sunday was not immediately available, though sources maintained that Kingfisher cancelled about 16 flights from Mumbai and about four from Delhi.
This situation is likely to continue for at least the next day or two with the airline issuing a statement late on Saturday pointing out that there had been flight disruptions since Friday which would continue for four days because of unexpected events, including bird strikes, which rendered aircraft out of service.
Worried at the developing situation, the airline watchdog, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is collecting information on the cancellations and delays and will take a decision on whether to initiate any action based on the inquiry. Flight operation rules stipulate that an airline has to inform the DGCA before making any changes in its operational schedule already approved by the airline watchdog.
Meanwhile, the airline which had been silent on any disruptions till late Saturday night, denied it had shut any station or that it intended to. “We could only operate 208 daily flights. The speculative queries that we are reducing our operating schedule from 240 flights a day are ill-founded as we will operate the full schedule on our booking system within the next four days,” an airline statement said.
ashphadnis@thehindu.co.in