860+ Kerala-Gulf Flights Cancelled in April-June: Govt

New Delhi, Jul 25 (PTI) As many as 861 flights or around 4 per cent of the total scheduled flights to and from Calicut, Kannur, Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram airports to the Gulf were cancelled during the three months to June, according to the civil aviation ministry.

Some members of the Lok Sabha from Kerala on Thursday raised the issue of the increased number of flight cancellations. A significant number of people from Kerala are working in Gulf countries.

In a written reply to the Lower House, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said flight cancellations from airports including those in Kerala to the Gulf sector occasionally occur due to weather, technical, operational and miscellaneous reasons.

"A total of 861 flights (which is around 4 per cent of total number of flights) were cancelled to/from Calicut, Kannur, Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram Airports during the last three months i.e. April to June 2024," he said.

He was responding to a query from Congress member Rajmohan Unnithan.

Naidu, in a separate written reply, said that a total of 542 flights -- which is around 5.59 per cent of total number of flights -- were cancelled to/from Calicut and Kannur airports during the last three months.

In another written reply, Naidu said Air India cancelled around 2 per cent of its scheduled flights from India to the Gulf during the April-June period this year.

"Air India had a schedule of 1,600 flights from India to Gulf during the period 01st April 2024 to 30th June 2024 out of which around 2 per cent flights were cancelled and 4.6 per cent flights were delayed (flights delayed more than 60 minutes)," he said in response to queries from Congress member Kodikunnil Suresh.

During the April-June period, the airline had a schedule of 19,253 flights from six metros (domestic sectors) -- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru during

"Out of this, 0.2 per cent flights were cancelled and 4.5 per cent flights were delayed (flights delayed more than 60 minutes)," he said.

Aviation regulator DGCA has norms in place for 'facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights'.

Replying to queries related to airfares from Congress member Shafi Parambil, the minister said the government does not regulate the fares set by airlines.

"At present, there is no proposal in the ministry to intervene with the existing regulatory framework on airfare," Naidu noted. PTI RAM

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said the operations of Air India Express were disrupted during April-June period, leading to the cancellation of multiple flights across India due to technical issues with the aircraft, considerable number of cabin crew reporting sick and migration to new cabin crew rostering software.

To Congress member V K Sreekandan's question on whether flight disruptions continued despite employees calling off their strike, Mohol said the airline has informed that all the employees have reported to work. "However, some flight disruptions continued due to software glitch in migration to new cabin crew rostering software".

"During the period April to June 2024, Air India Express had a schedule of 5618 flights from Kerala to the Gulf and vice-versa, out of which 245 flights were cancelled which is 4.36 per cent of the published schedule," the minister said.

Further, he said that airlines have been advised by DGCA to minimise the disruption of flights to/from Kerala by revising the schedule operating with standby aircraft and recruiting the crew staff as per the requirement.