Passengers’ body blames govt. for sloppy first day of flight resumption

The Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) on Monday blamed the government’s sloppy handling of domestic flight resumption for large-scale flight cancellations and passengers not knowing State-wise standard operating procedures.

APAI president Sudhakara Reddy said the first day of flight resumption led to chaos at major airports such as Delhi, where more than 80 flights were cancelled, and Mumbai, where the State government has capped flights at 25 arrivals and departures each.

APAI claimed these flight cancellations were two-pronged: either the airline itself cancelled flights due to poor load factor, or it was forced to cancel because of State-specific regulations.

“The government should have stuck to June 1 [to resume services]. Passengers would have been saved the trauma of institutional quarantine whose regulations literally came on Sunday evening, while bookings remained open for the past few days,” Mr. Reddy said.

The APAI said several passengers did not know of the cancellations till they reached the airports and were thus cheated.

Officials of Mumbai International Airport Limited said there were many passengers who turned up without checking their flight status, only to find them cancelled.

Mr. Reddy also observed that the cancellations were being put in credit shells, which was not a passenger-friendly move.

Travel portal ixigo said passengers had complained of confusion and there were cancellations. It said travellers were looking for reassurance on refunds in case they need to cancel their flights. It launched a full refund guarantee up to ₹5,000 for cancellations made by travellers, for any reason whatsoever, prior to the date of departure.

“Our recent travel sentiment survey, with over 5,000 respondents, revealed that nearly 50% of air travellers planning to book a flight in the next few weeks are looking for a fully refundable booking option for their travel. ixigo assured is the product anxious travellers were craving for,” Aloke Bajpai, co-founder and CEO of ixigo, said.