NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Rediff Shopping

Shop & gift from thousands of products!   Books     Music       Apparel   Jewellery   Flowers   More..      Safe Shopping

Flight overbooking leaves Gulf Keralites stranded

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

Hundreds of Keralites are finding it difficult to return to their workplaces in the Gulf as all flights have been overbooked till September 20 in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Keralites, who came on leave or have to return before the expiry of their visas, are in a fix in the absence of adequate seats on flights in the Kerala-Gulf sector.

There is a shortfall of about 2000 seats a week due to cancellation of the Thiruvananthapuram flight by Air Maldives and winding up of Gulf operations by Aeroflot and Balkan Air.

The passengers, who depended on these flights, have turned to routine flights, mounting pressure on the capacity of 8000 seats a week. The seven airlines operating in the sector have been giving bookings of 10 per cent beyond their capacity and turning away additional passengers at the last minute has led to problems.

Stranded passengers, mostly with their families, have been besieging airline offices. On Sunday, some irate passengers picketed the Gulf Air office at the airport for more than three hours.

Airline officials justified the 10 per cent overbooking, terming it as a normal practice followed by airlines to prevent flights leaving with vacant seats. "Normally, overbooked passengers are accommodated against last minute cancellations. But there are no cancellations during peak periods," said an airline official.

The official said that almost 99 per cent passengers turn up to board a flight as they are unsure of seats in future.

Though airlines usually give seats on a first-come, first-serve basis, they accommodate passengers who are likely to lose their jobs due to expiry of leave or visas. Gulf Air had accommodated 45 passengers last week, the official said.

"Many cannot even approach the officials before the flight leaves because of the rush at the airport," said K V Muralidharan, a travel agent. "However, some are lucky," he added.

According to Muralidharan, there were 700 visa expiry cases last month. Most of them have been accommodated on routine flights. Muralidharan said that the problem was acute this year because of the authorities' reluctance to permit additional flights.

Only two additional flights have been operated. Another two are scheduled on August 30 and September 5. Besides, one airline has been permitted to upgrade its capacity. However, this, according to Muralidharan, is not likely to ease the pressure, since more than 3000 passengers have been stranded.

He said that the additional capacity would help clear only 1000 passengers. There is need for a minimum six more flights to clear the backlog, he added.

Gulf Air and Qatar Air had sought permission to operate 10 additional flights, but the civil aviation authorities have not responded. This is despite an assurance by Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav to sanction additional flights in the sector to clear the holiday rush.

Meanwhile, several organisations have demanded the minister's immediate intervention.

Kerala Congress (Jacob) leader T M Jacob said that many of those stranded would lose jobs if they failed to report for duty on time. He demanded an inquiry into the reluctance by Air-India to operate additional flights.

NRI Friendship Society co-ordinator Channankara M P Kunju has described the situation as 'very alarming' and urged the minister to intervene immediately.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report