Air India Express flight cancellations ruin UAE residents'' holiday plans

The ongoing Air India pilot strike has led to the cancellation of a number of Air India Express flights, which have ruined the holiday plans of hundreds of UAE residents. "Don''t fly Air India Express till things stabilize. I am advising friends and relatives who have booked flights from July onwards to cancel them," Gulf News quoted a senior Air India official, who was based in New Delhi, as saying. The ongoing strike by around 350 Air India pilots entered its 37th day on Wednesday, crippling the national carrier''s operations worldwide. "Things are bad," the official said, adding that both short and long haul flights were affected. Enquiries at the Dubai office of Air India Express revealed they had a flight schedule only till June 30. "We have no information about flights from July 1," a staff said. An Indian expat who booked three tickets for June 28 from Dubai to Lucknow was informed that flight IX193 has been cancelled for "operational reasons". Air India operates 207 flights (102 Air India and 105 Air India Express) from the UAE to 16 destinations with 111 aircraft whose average age is five-and-a-half years. But the crisis at Air India has affected many of these flights. He said the airline had terminated services of 100 pilots so far with the remaining 250 determined not to come back until they were reinstated. The pilots have called in sick since May 7 to protest against the decision to train pilots from Indian Airlines for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. "There is no short-term solution to this problem. Even if the pilots come back to work today, it will take months for things to return to normalcy," the Air India official added.