The Hindu Business Line : Festive time flight cancellations, not many this time round

While it is festive time for most people in the country, for the airlines the festivities mean "no show", leading to combining of flights or even cancellations. For passengers who have to travel during this period, it could turn out to be a cumbersome journey.

But this year, despite the long weekend, followed by `Bhaiya Dooj' (when sisters pray for the welfare of brothers) and leading up to Eid-ul-Fitr did not see many airlines cancel flights. A spokesman for the low-cost airline, SpiceJet, said that on Diwali day it did not cancel any of the 55 daily flights that it operates.

Similarly, an official of Indian said that most of the flights were operated as per the specified schedule.

"On Diwali, all 23 flights from both Kolkata and Chennai were operated. The airline, however, combined one of the 44 departures from Delhi that were operated on that day," he added. A spokesman of Air Sahara added that the airline too had combined some flights although no scheduled flights had been cancelled.

Jet Airways, however, had cancelled the late night Chennai-Bangalore-Chennai flight during October 20-22, combining it with the evening flight that left Chennai at 5.15 p.m. For October 23 and 24, the afternoon flight on the Bangalore-Chennai-Bangalore sector was being cancelled and combined with another flight that would leave Bangalore at 9.50 a.m. and reach Chennai at 10.35 a.m.

Sources indicated that airlines are permitted to combine or cancel flight provided they inform the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about the reasons for this. "If the airlines cancel or reschedule flights for no justifiable reason, then they can face action from the DGCA which can be in the form of a warning or an adverse entry into their Air Operators Certificate," the sources added.

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