Over 860 flights between 4 Kerala airports and Gulf sector cancelled in April-June: Govt

As many as 861 flights or around 4 per cent of the total scheduled flights to and from Calicut Kannur Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram airports to the Gulf were cancelled during the three months to June according to the civil aviation ministrySome members of the Lok Sabha from Kerala on Thursday raised the issue of the increased number of flight cancellations A significant number of people from Kerala are working in Gulf countriesIn a written reply to the Lower House Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said flight cancellations from airports including those in Kerala to the Gulf sector occasionally occur due to weather technical operational and miscellaneous reasonsA total of 861 flights which is around 4 per cent of total number of flights were cancelled tofrom Calicut Kannur Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram Airports during the last three months ie April to June 2024 he saidHe was responding to a query from Congress member Rajmohan UnnithanNaidu in a separate written reply said that a total of 542 flights which is around 559 per cent of total number of flights were cancelled tofrom Calicut and Kannur airports during the last three monthsIn another written reply Naidu said Air India cancelled around 2 per cent of its scheduled flights from India to the Gulf during the AprilJune period this yearAir India had a schedule of 1600 flights from India to Gulf during the period 01st April 2024 to 30th June 2024 out of which around 2 per cent flights were cancelled and 46 per cent flights were delayed flights delayed more than 60 minutes he said in response to queries from Congress member Kodikunnil SureshDuring the AprilJune period the airline had a schedule of 19253 flights from six metros domestic sectors Delhi Mumbai Kolkata Chennai Hyderabad and Bengaluru during Out of this 02 per cent flights were cancelled and 45 per cent flights were delayed flights delayed more than 60 minutes he saidAviation regulator DGCA has norms in place for facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding cancellation of flights and delays in flightsReplying to queries related to airfares from Congress member Shafi Parambil the minister said the government does not regulate the fares set by airlinesAt present there is no proposal in the ministry to intervene with the existing regulatory framework on airfare Naidu noted PTI RAM Meanwhile Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said the operations of Air India Express were disrupted during AprilJune period leading to the cancellation of multiple flights across India due to technical issues with the aircraft considerable number of cabin crew reporting sick and migration to new cabin crew rostering softwareTo Congress member V K Sreekandans question on whether flight disruptions continued despite employees calling off their strike Mohol said the airline has informed that all the employees have reported to work However some flight disruptions continued due to software glitch in migration to new cabin crew rostering softwareDuring the period April to June 2024 Air India Express had a schedule of 5618 flights from Kerala to the Gulf and viceversa out of which 245 flights were cancelled which is 436 per cent of the published schedule the minister saidFurther he said that airlines have been advised by DGCA to minimise the disruption of flights tofrom Kerala by revising the schedule operating with standby aircraft and recruiting the crew staff as per the requirementThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever