Left won’t say: only Kolkata airport heard its all-India call

At the end of the dawn-to-dusk strike call given by the AAI employees joint forum, none of Kerala airports recorded a single delay in scheduled flight operations. According to spot reports from these airports, over 20 flights operated without much inconvenience to the passengers.

It was the same story elsewhere with Guwahati office of the Airports Authority of India—also the regional headquarters for the entire North-East—reporting almost complete attendance. ‘‘Most of the operational staff and executives reported on duty…it is pertinent to mention that attendance at other airports in the region was also most 100 per cent,’’ stated Regional head from Guwahati in his report.

The metro airports, which were at the heart of the entire strike call, reported on-time operations for most their flights:

Delhi: 69 departures and 74 arrivals while 24 were cancelled in advance and 9 delayed on the domestic side. Five international flights were delayed but 101 departures and arrivals on schedule. Very much a regular affair. However, housekeeping was badly affected.

Mumbai: Barring two flights that were cancelled due to technical reasons, all was normal here. In all (domestic and international), there were 103 departures and 96 arrivals by 5 pm and all on schedule.

Chennai: All flight services were normal with 50 departures and 40 arrivals according to schedule during the time the strike was on.

The worst affected was Kolkata where the fire staff did not hand over the keys after its morning shift. Housekeeping staff did not show up while AAI executives did come forward to help. But the aggressive union did not allow air conditioning to be turned on and to avoid confrontation, AAI officials were forced to close down the AC plant.

Most flights to the city were cancelled in advance with one Indian Airlines plane having to return midway. The striking employees also forced the Met staff to move out.

A day after the strike, it is clear that the officers did not participate in the strike despite support from AAI Officers Association. The staff managing the communication and navigation facilities also showed up in large numbers and the air traffic controllers opted out of the strike. As a result, most of the critical aspects were not affected. The terminal management and emergency services were, however, hit but with help from state governments and the Armed Forces this was tackled without much difficulty.