New Delhi, May 26: Air India’s operations were severely affected today with at least 16 flights, including five international services, being cancelled as over 16,000 staffers went on a flash strike across the country to protest delay in payment of salaries.
Several other flights were delayed, many of them by over an hour, as the strike from 1230 hours spread in major metro cities with employees walking out of their offices and organising demonstrations to press for their demands.
Air India had last week decided to delay the May salaries by a week.
The international flights cancelled were those from Delhi to Jeddah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai (two flights) and one from Amritsar to London, Air India officials said.
Domestic services from Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai were also affected. Among the flights delayed was one from Coimbatore to Chennai, which flew in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi after a two-hour delay.
–Agencies