Airports strike disrupts about 200 flights

New Delhi/Mumbai: At least 50 people were injured today during the day-long strike called by trade unions, which badly affected services in rail, road, aviation, banking and various other sectors in many parts of the country, particularly in the three Left-ruled states.
The strike by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) employees led to the cancellation of close to 200 flight movements (arrivals and departures), mostly from and to Kolkata.
Besides, airports in Haldia, Visakhapatnam, Guwahati and Pune were also affected by the stir.
Apart from Kolkata, a complete bandh was observed in Jharkhand, Manipur, Kerala and Tripura. The delay in flights from these places, however, had a cascading effect on flights to other places. For instance, 10-12 flights to Hyderabad were delayed due to the delay in arrival of the connecting flights. Some flights to Delhi and Mumbai were also delayed. Sources said around 150-200 departures, mostly out of Kolkata, were cancelled today.
As a contingency measure, about 250 Indian Air Force (IAF) personnel were deployed at 21 airports in the country to maintain safety and fire services.
Meanwhile, protesting privatisation and mergers, about 900,000 public sector bank employees went on a strike today, paralysing most of commercial operations throughout the country.
21/08/08 Business Standard

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Categories: Airports Aug 2008, Indian Aviation- In General Aug 2008