It was a harrowing Saturday for passengers flying Kingfisher Airlines with the airlines suddenly cancelling several flights across the country.
Trouble started on late Friday night at the Kolkata airport when the airlines' staff members walked out protesting non-payment of salaries for about two months. While Kingfisher officials were unavailable for comment, industry sources indicated that on Saturday also there were no operations from Kolkata while flights from cities across the country including Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Patna, Srinagar, Kolkata and Hyderabad were also affected.
The airline's operations to Bangkok and Singapore were also hit. Flight disruptions of the cash-strapped airline also had a cascading effect on its flights being operated from other cities including Delhi with passengers after reaching the airport being turned back, re-routed or having their fares refunded.
Travel agents in Mumbai said they were advising customers against making any bookings on Kingfisher.
“It is clearly not a good time to travel on Kingfisher. We are cautioning our customers to not book on KFA due to the cancellations of several routes and its unpredictable status,” said a travel agent from Cosmos Agencies in Mumbai.
The Kingfisher Airlines Web site showed bookings for all its flights from Kolkata being suspended during the period. Another travel agent said that it will be difficult for the common man to find out which flights have been cancelled unless he is already booked for travel.
“This is because the airline has removed the flights directly from its booking system,” the travel agent said.
The flight disruptions come after lenders to the airline failed to finalise a deal to provide additional funds. The airline reported a 75 per cent increase in its net loss at Rs 444 crore for the quarter ending December 31, 2011.
Other airlines up fares
Disruptions in Kingfisher's flights also resulted in a northward movement in fares of other airlines although they remain within the limits set by the airline watchdog, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Air India, IndiGo and Jet Airways have benefited from the disruption in Kingfisher flights with passengers on the troubled airline being transferred to these carriers.
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