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Ghulam Nabi Azad stuck amid Air India Express flight cancellations: 'Should be shut'
Ghulam Nabi Azad said Air India should be shut down because its culture is bad and nothing good will come out of it.
Among thousands of flyers who were hit by the sudden cancellations of the Air India Express flights on Wednesday was J&K former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad who said Air India should be shut and nothing will come out of it because its culture is bad. The stinging comment came from a former civil aviation minister who said he never travelled by Air India. "When I was the civil aviation minister, Air India pilots called for a strike for 40 days. Then we brought the private airlines. But they (Air India) learnt no lesson," Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
Air India Express is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India.
The J&K politician's Delhi-Srinagar flight was cancelled on Wednesday morning following which he took an IndiGo flight after waiting 3-4 hours in Delhi. "If the flights have been cancelled, they should have informed us in the morning itself. Why fool the passengers? So many people are being harassed," Azad said.
Air India Express had to cancel nearly 90 flights since Tuesday night as a section of cabin crew members called in sick – in a protest against the alleged mismanagement at the airline. As passengers grappled at the last minute to arrange alternative flights to reach their destination, the civil aviation ministry called for a report from Air India Express regarding the cancellations.
Air India Express apologised for the flight disruption and said the airline was engaging with the cabin crew members to find the reasons for reporting sick. The airline said it will offer a full refund or complimentary rescheduling to another date.
The protest of the cabin crew came after the process to merge Air India Express with AIX Connect (formerly AirAsia) started. Last month, a union representing a section of the Air India Express cabin crew alleged that the airline was being mismanaged and there was a lack of equality in the treatment of the staff.
