Mumbai, May 1 (IANS) Air India suffered a 90 percent disruption in its domestic flights Sunday on account of the strike by nearly 600 pilots, though it reported fully normal operations on the international sectors.
Till noon Sunday, 19 flights on the domestic sector out of Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and other airports were operated. While 13 were on schedule, six flights were delayed, the official said,
The non-availability of pilots has compelled the national carrier to drastically curtail its flight schedules for next week. The details of the schedule, effective till May 6, has been posted on its website.
Next week, Air India would deploy widebodied aircraft like tge B-747 and B-777, as also Air India Express’s B-737 and two aircraft availed from external sources for domestic operations.
Air India is successfully operating all its scheduled services on the long haul routes to and from the US, Britain and Europe, southeast Asia (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong), China and the Gulf region.
Similarly, all flights of Air India’s subsidiaries – Air India Express and Alliance Air were also on schedule, with no disruptions.
About 50 international flights, 75 Gulf flights and 42 regional flights were operated as scheduled.
The official said Air India has taken steps to minimize the inconvenience caused due to the strike to its passengers.
The number of its staff at major airports have been increased as also the strength at its call centers to help the passengers.
Besides, Air India is making attempts to transfer the stranded passengers to other airlines.
