Mangaluru
The cancellation and delays of Air India Express (AIE) flights due to the crew rostering system issue continued for the second day leaving several passengers inconvenienced.
The airline had cancelled some flights on Wednesday, as it grappled with issues related to the crew rostering system.
On Wednesday, the AIE Mangaluru-Bengaluru flight was cancelled, whereas there was a delay of four hours each for Mangaluru-Dammam, Doha, and Dubai flights.
The Mangaluru-Jeddah flight was delayed by seven hours, and the flight to Tiruchirappalli experienced a six-hour delay. All Gulf-bound flights and one domestic flight were delayed for four to seven hours on Wednesday, and the Bengaluru flight was cancelled.
The Dubai-Mangaluru flight was cancelled, and all international flights’ departures and arrivals were delayed for several hours on Thursday. The Jeddah-Mangaluru flight, which was scheduled to touch down at 3:45 am, landed at 9:32 am. Similarly, the Dammam-Mangaluru flight arrived at 8:41 am, though its scheduled time was 5 am, and the Dubai-Mangaluru flight was cancelled. The Mangaluru-Muscat flight was delayed for two hours.
Later in the day, the Mangaluru-Bahrain flight, which was supposed to depart at 6:45 pm, was rescheduled to depart at 8:25 pm, and the Muscat-Mangaluru flight, which was supposed to arrive at 5:30 pm, was delayed to 6:45 pm.
The delay and cancellation are because AIE, the Tata Group-owned air carrier, has moved to a new rostering system,” sources added. Meanwhile, the frequent delays and cancellations have left expatriates returning from their vacation to Gulf countries worried. I have booked a flight ticket to Dubai on Saturday. Now I am worried whether flights will operate as normal or not, said Sharath D’Souza, who works in Dubai.
