Passengers left in lurch in Surat

Passengers left in lurch in Surat

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Surat:26.05.2020

After two months of lockdown, domestic flight services resumed, but last minute cancellations by airlines citing rotational issues left many passengers in the lurch. Morning flights to Mumbai and Delhi by Spice Jet were cancelled on the very first day flights services were resumed.

Out of the total five flights that were supposed to operate on Monday, three — Jaipur, Delhi and Mumbai — were cancelled and only two flights to Delhi and Hyderabad were operational.

Spice Jet spokesperson said, “It was first day and we hope that the flight operations will be regularised in a day or two.”

Many passengers complained that only after arriving at the airport they were told that the flights were cancelled. A resident of Delhi who has been stranded in the city for two months now, said that the joy of going home came crashing down when I reached airport after I was told about the cancellation. “This was very bad on part of the airline and I wasn’t expecting this to happen on the very first day,” said the man, who did not wish to be identified.

The first flight operated by Indigo took off from Surat to Delhi at 1.55 pm under strict regulations recommended by the civil aviation department. The second of Spice Jet took off at 3.20 pm from Surat to Hyderabad.

Official sources said that about 44 passengers arrived from Delhi to Surat in the Indigo flight, while about 150 passengers boarded the return flight to Delhi. About 28 passengers arrived in the Spice Jet flight from Hyderabad to Surat which carried back about 33 passengers to Hyderabad.

About 72 passengers who arrived from Delhi and Hyderabad were screened at the airport.

I was waiting for this day for the past two months and it only arrived with disappointments. I reached the airport two hours prior to the flight departure, but was told that the flight was cancelled. There was no prior information given on the cancellation

Raj Sengar PASSENGER TRAVELLING FROM SURAT TO DELHI

The cancellation of flights is not in our hands. However, passengers were happy over the preparedness at the airport terminal to protect them from the spread of coronavirus. We have gone extra miles to take necessary precautions for the safety of the passengers and people working at the airport

Aman Saini AIRPORT DIRECTOR, SURAT