Indian airlines have decided to do their bit to support army personnel and civilians who were stranded at eight airports amidst rising tension between India and Pakistan.
Vistara, Jet Airways, IndiGo and GoAir have decided to offer waive-offs on cancellation charges or full refund to the army personnel. The same facility has been extended to flyers, who were stranded due to closure of Srinagar, Leh, Amritsar and Jammu airports.
Vistara is offering full refund on cancellations for army personnel on any route, while Jet Airways and GoAir are offering unlimited waivers on re-issue/ refund penalties for the Indian Armed Forces.
“We are reaching out to the armed forces to offer our assistance in any way possible to transport members of our armed forces to their call of duty destination. We have reached out to the relevant department, which in turn will advise us of requirements,” a Vistara spokesperson said.
The airline is also offering one way free-of-cost air tickets within the Vistara network for “serving personnel travelling to position or reporting for duty in the affected region along with transportation of cargo like medicines, clothing etc,” the spokesperson added.
IndiGo is also willing to offer full refund to the families of army personnel whose tickets were booked on the same PNR, the airline said in response to BusinessLine ’s query. Vistara said it will review each request on a case-to-case basis.
Concerns for civilians
According to reports, due to rising tensions between India and Pakistan, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) earlier on Wednesday, saying flight operations at eight airports, located north of Delhi, were to remain shut. However, the operations at these airports commenced later.
For passengers who were stranded at affected airports like Srinagar, Leh, Amritsar and Jammu, Vistara, GoAir and Jet Airways are offering refund or waive-off, or re-issue of tickets.
Jet Airways in a statement said it “will waive off, reissue or refund penalties on confirmed tickets issued on or before February 26, into or out of Dehradun, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Srinagar and Leh.” Vistara said it will refund the entire amount of the tickets booked instead of rescheduling them. GoAir too said it will allow “free of charge cancellation if the passenger wishes to, and free of charge re-booking on a date that is +/- 7 days from originally scheduled date.”
Vistara, Indigo and Jet Airways have extended their respective offers till March 31 while GoAir has extended it to March 15.