Hyderabad, April 19: About 300-400 passengers with flight tickets to Europe or the US are stranded in Hyderabad on account of the suspension of flights due to an Icelandic volcano continuing to fill the European sky with ash.
According to travel agents, some passengers are switching to the trans- Pacific route, going to Singapore or Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok on the way to the US. Some others are flying to Dubai and from there non-stop to the US, bypassing the ash cloud. “We are encouraging passengers to fly to the US through hubs in the Middle East such as Dubai or from eastern cities like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore,” Sunil Kumar, secretary of the Travel Agents Association of India, said. Travel agents in Hyderabad have for past several days been flooded with enquiries from passengers bound to Europe and the US. Apart from the hassle of finding seats on alternative routes, the grounding of international flights to the West is costing agents dearly as their daily income has been hit, Vijay Mohan Raj, director of Uni Globe Sameera Travel, told Express.
“The next few days are going to be difficult as the ash clouds could linger for some more days. Even if the clouds clear, flights may still remain cancelled for some more,’’ he said.
Suresh of Skyhawk Travels in Himayatnagar said that as the present situation is not conducive to travel, “we are asking our clients (passengers) to postpone their trip for a few more days.”
–Agencies