Haj: Govt’s decision on airline final, says AI

Faizabad: Reacting to the Uttar Pradesh Haj Committee’s decision to hire the services of Saudi Airlines instead of Air India for the Haj pilgrims of the state, Air India Executive Director Jitendra Bhargava said: “It is the sole discretion of the Government of India to decide as to from which city which airlines will operate, Air India or Saudi Airlines.”
As reported in The Indian Express on Monday, the Haj Committee of Uttar Pradesh has decided to use the services of Saudi Airlines to send Haj pilgrims to Jeddah, following complaints of poor service and curt behaviour by staff of Air India.
Regarding complaints of pilgrims not being allowed permissible baggage, Bhargava said, “Last year some Haj pilgrims from Lucknow had almost 200 kilogram of excess baggage with them on the return flight. They wanted it to be transported free of cost. On not being allowed to do so by the Air India officials, they prevented other Hajis from boarding, but later they had apologised in writing,” Bhargava said.
29/04/08 Lucknow Newsline

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Categories: Air India - International Apr 2008, Foreign Apr 2008, NACIL Apr 2008