AAI employees to go on strike tomorrow

Almost all flights in and out of Kolkata and some other eastern cities like Bagdogra will be cancelled tomorrow, as a result of the strike by employees of Airports Authority of India (AAI). Airline executives said that flights to and from the Delhi and Mumbai airports could also get delayed although flight cancellations are unlikely.

Around 15,000 employees across 127 airports in the country who are part of the Airports Authority Employees Union (AAEU) will participate in the major trade unions’ strike against the "anti-people" policies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government tomorrow.

Indian carriers like Air India, IndiGo and Spice Jet and international carriers like Singapore Airlines confirmed that they would cancel almost all their flights to Kolkata tomorrow. Kolkata has a total of around 190 flight movements (domestic arrivals and departures )

"Twenty out of a total of 22 departures will be cancelled tomorrow. We have two early morning flights to Port Blair and Mumbai which depart before six when the strike starts. These two flights will not be cancelled," said an Air India spokesperson from Kolkata.

Apart from Kolkata, where the twenty four hour strike starts at 6 in the morning, AAI employees at most other airports will strike work at seven in the morning.

"Apart from the airport strike, there will also be a bandh across the city and hence none of our employees will be able to go for work. Hence there will be no operations from Kolkata tomorrow. We have a similar case in Bagdogra where all our flights will be cancelled," said Samyukth Sridharan, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Delhi based budget carrier Spice Jet.

IndiGo officials also confirmed their 11 departures from Kolkata airport will be cancelled.
International flights in Kolkata also stand to be affected as a result of the strike.

"Due to the strike, we have rescheduled our Kolkata flight from 20th to the 21st. The flight which was arrive at the airport on the night of 20th will now arrive on the 21st," said a Singapore Airlines spokesperson.
Airline executives said that flights movements in airports like Delhi would also be affected although none of the flights might be cancelled.

Delhi airport is operated by the GMR led consortium Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), and only the non-executive AAI officials would go on strike. As such, only functions like housekeeping, fire safety and ground safety would be affected.

For instance, housekeeping in the domestic terminal 1A which is dedicated to Air India and Kingfisher is done completely by AAI, unlike domestic terminal 1B wherein the function is outsourced.
Disruptions in the housekeeping operations in terminal 1B might thus be disrupted tomorrow leading to some inconvenience to passengers.

"We have a contingency in place. We will do the rostering of our staff adequately so that no inconvenience takes place," said a DIAL executive.