18 GoAir flights were cancelled due to cockpit crew crunch leaving thousand of passengers stranded at airports across India.
GoAir has cancelled 18 domestic flights from cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Patna due to non-availability of aircraft and adequate cockpit crew, a source said. The budget carrier has reported a series of incidents involving engine glitches, mainly in its A320 Neo planes, which has resulted in non-availability of some of such planes for operations, the source said.
"GoAir has cancelled flights 18 flights from Mumbai, Goa, Bengaluru, Delhi, Srinagar, Jammu, Patna, Indore and Kolkata on Monday. The cancellations have come as the airline is facing both aircraft and crew problem," the source said. GoAir, however, in a statement said that the disruption in services was on account of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) coupled with the duty norms of the operating crew.
Several passengers took to Twitter to register their complaint after they were left stranded.
"@goairlinesindia Any reason why did flight G8112 got cancelled last minute? Noone is responding on your customer care," Aparajita tweeted.
"Sorry for the inconvenience caused to you. Flight cancellation due to operational reasons and bad weather are unpredictable & beyond our control. We are experiencing a high number of calls at our customer care centre. Request you to connect after some time," GoAir tweeted.
But the airline did not specify the number of cancelled flights on Monday. "A combination of factors such as inclement weather, low visibility and anti-CAA protests in certain parts of the country have disrupted multiple flights across GoAir's network. This was further aggravated with flight duty time limitations (FDTL) of the crew," a GoAir spokesperson said in a statement to PTI.
The abrupt cancellations of their flights are causing a lot of inconvenience to passengers. "GoAir texted me at 1.43 am for a flight at 4.55 am and 'informs' me that my flight is cancelled... and says they will contact me within 24 hours... What am I to do till then?? Helpline no one answers!!," tweeted a passenger.
The airline, however, said it has initiated all possible steps to minimise inconvenience to the passengers.
"Alternate flight arrangements are being explored to minimise the impact. Free cancellation and re-booking options have been offered to all those affected," the spokesperson added in the statement.
-PTI-
