Hyderabad, August 03: With private air operators calling off the threatened strike scheduled for August 18, travellers outbound from the city during the weekend heaved a sigh of relief. But in case, it was back on, many were gearing up to deal with situation as best as they could. Some said the threatened strike on Tuesday was strategically timed, given a long weekend attached.
Many anxious airline travellers in fact cancelled their plans after they heard of the stir.
Now they cannot get fresh tickets! Meanwhile, there were speculations on additional number of flights being readied by the public sector National Aviation Company of India (NACIL) including the domestic division of Air India and Indian Airlines, which have however been “put on hold till such a need for additional planes arise,” according to officials at the airline corporation. However, there were indications that in the event of a shortage of flights if a strike takes place in future, the corporation would be making arrangements for additional aeroplanes in Hyderabad. Incidentally, NACIL had already readied an extra fleet of planes to handle the possibility of an overload on the busy Mumbai-Delhi route.
The developments, however, ruffled a few feathers with travellers who had scheduled flights on Tuesday the 18th.
E Vallepally, a businessman noted that the call for strike had made rescheduling a messy affair, “since the adjacent dates were fast getting booked, and getting reservations for a large family was difficult. Rescheduling everyone’s free time becomes a complicated affair.” In this connection, consumer bodies like the Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) have already appealed to the government to declare air travel as an essential service.
Travel agents say some clients were patient and did not cancel tickets.
Travel portals and agencies sold many tickets for August 18. “There was no indication on the news websites about the strike threat and we went by that,” a private tour operator and travel agent revealed.
–Agencies–