Three international flights from Chennai cancelled

CHENNAI: Services of state-owned carrier 'Indian' were affected for second day on Thursday with three international flights from here being cancelled and several delayed, even as striking employees tried to block passengers.

The Chennai-Singapore IC 557, Chennai-Bangkok IC 737 and Chennai-Sharjah IC 965, scheduled to depart at 10.25am, 10.35am and 12pm respectively, were cancelled, airport sources said.

Three domestic flights scheduled for take off this morning have been delayed by several hours.

Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram IC 931, Chennai-Bhubaneswar CD 7541 and Chennai-Delhi CD 7478, scheduled to fly at 10am, 10.05am and 10.05am respectively, were resheduled for departure in the afternoon.

The Chennai-Delhi IC 531, which was scheduled to depart at 6.05pm on Wednesday finally took off at 2am on Thursday with just one passenger on board, they added.

Around 200 members of Air Corporation Employees Union (ACEU) staged a dharna at the entrance of the airport this morning, airport sources said.

CISF and police helped the passengers get inside the airport when the protesters tried to block them.

Raja Kumar, the Southern Region Secretary of ACEU, said four employees from Chennai were among the 27 staffers suspended across the country for not reporting for duty on Wednesday.