Air India Express cancels key Eid holiday flights from UAE

Air India Express cancels key Eid holiday flights from UAE

Passengers booked to fly between August 16 and 22 being informed that flights have been cancelled

Air India Express has cancelled several key flights scheduled to fly during the Eid holidays.

Passengers who had booked their tickets to fly between August 16 to 22 are being informed that their flights have been cancelled and they need to make alternate arrangements.

The airline has not given any reason for why it is cancelling the flights except that passengers are being informed well in advance and that they should look for alternate flights.

Following the cancellations, affected passengers will now have to pay more than 150 per cent to book flights on private airlines for the same dates. Most flights are fully booked for Eid holidays.

Jayanthan one of the passengers says he had planned his holidays well in advance and the announcement is nothing but a shocker. “Tickets are at its peak. A one way ticket to Calicut is now costing me Dh2,000 plus. I had initially booked the Air India Express ticket for Dh1000,” he said.

The airline has cancelled flights to most major destinations in Kerala such as Trivandrum, Cochin and Calicut apart from other destinations in India.

However it is still not clear how many passengers have been affected. Travel agents too are clueless about the cancellations and say they were not informed in advance. There was no official comment available from the airline.

Meanwhile according to reports, Air India Express has announced new schedule of flight operating from the Middle East to Mangalore and Mumbai, effective July 23.

The Mangalore-Kuwait-Mangalore flight will operate on three days - Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and will depart at 5.45 pm from Mangalore.

The Mangalore Bahrain flight will now operate on Saturdays and will depart Mangalore at 10 am.

The Mumbai flight will operate on Mondays and will depart at 10.30 am.