Flight operations of 'Indian' were affected in the capital on Thursday as employees of the state-owned carrier continued to struck work, leading to disruptions in services.
NEW DELHI: Flight operations of 'Indian' were affected in the capital on Thursday as employees of the state-owned carrier continued to struck work, leading to disruptions in services.
Nine flights were cancelled so far and many more were delayed as employees, including cabin crew, continued their strike defying a High Court directive to join duty by Thursday morning.
Services to Mumbai, Lucknow, Thiruvanathapuram, Bangalore, Patna, Ranchi, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Srinagar were cancelled on Thursday, sources said.
Many flights were delayed by one to one-and-half hours due to the 'Indian' employees' agitation demanding promotional parity with Air India post-merger, they said.
After holding the strike as "prime facie illegal," the Delhi High Court last night restrained workers from staging demonstrations, indulging in sloganeering or other modes of protests like go-slow within a 200-metre radius of Delhi airport.
The agitators have assembled near a check-post well outside the restricted area and are sloganeering against government and 'Indian' management.
A heavy posse of police personnel have been deployed at all the terminals and at the entrance of the airport.
As uncertainty prevailed, a number of passengers have cancelled their bookings despite airline officials promising alternate arrangements.
Avishek, a passenger who had booked a ticket in Delhi-Srinagar flight, said he had cancelled it as he did not want to take a chance.
"The airline officials have promised me that they will make alternate arrangements. But I don't want to take a chance. Even if I agree, I don't know when they could make arrangements. So I decided to cancel my booking," Avishek claimed.
Some passengers complained that the airliner did not inform about the cancellations.
Malavika Grover, a Mumbai-bound passenger, claimed that she came to know about the cancellation only after reaching the airport.
"They have an obligation to the passenger. They have to inform us if they cancel it," an angry Grover said.
D K Shetty, President of Air Corporation Employees Union, said that they were not aware of any High Court order nor has any notice been served on them.
He said since the Union has not been made a party to the case, "We are continuing with the strike".
"We are open to talks. We are ready for settlement. We are urging the management not to be adamant as we cannot put pressure on passengers," J K Badola, General Secretary of ACEU, which is spearheading the strike, said.
An estimated 12,000 ground staff, who were joined by cabin crew later, of Indian went on a nation-wide strike on Tuesday night accusing the management of going back on its assurances to them on their demands for wage arrears and better promotional prospects.
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