Day 4: Flight from city fails to take off

Since Thursday,the flight services have taken a hit either due to poor visibility or pollution. On Friday,the flight was cancelled due to duststorm while on Thursday,this flight had to be diverted to Chandigarh due to poor visibility and strong winds at the Sahnewal airport. The passengers were ferried to Ludhiana by taxis arranged by the Air India. On Saturday,the passengers were told at the airport that there would be no flight.

The New Delhi-Ludhiana flight that was started on May 13 is getting good response from passengers with nearly 70 per cent occupancy for inbound and outbound flights.

However,its frequent cancellation is harassing passengers who feel that the authorities should have a system to inform the passengers well in advance.

“They could have an SMS system or some kind of an alert system. It very difficult to travel for 40 minutes and on reaching the airport,one comes know that flight has been cancelled,” said a passenger.

The airport authorities said,“We have tried to make alternate arrangements for our passengers. For some,we have given them 10 per cent refund while for others alternate travel dates have been allocated.”