Hundreds of Umrah pilgrims and vacationing passengers are stranded due to the cancellation of flights caused by a strike called by at least 250 of its pilots. The strike, which continued for a third day Thursday, has resulted in disruption of flights to three main Saudi destinations – Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam—from Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Kozhikode. “I had a confirmed booking for my daughter for Air India's Thursday night flight for Hyderabad. On hearing of the strike and the likely cancellation of flights, I succeeded in a last-minute effort to get a new Business Class booking on Saudi Arabian Airlines, as they did not have a single Economy Class seat available,” Abdul Aziz, an executive in a media company, told Saudi Gazette. He said if he had not been alert, his daughter would have missed her examination in which she is due to appear Monday. Most of the passengers confirmed on the flights of India's national carrier said in Jeddah that they were not informed about the disruption or cancellation. “We came to know about this only from the media and TV channels,” said Muhammad Rizvi, a factory supervisor at the Jeddah Industrial City. Rizvi and two of his friends were scheduled to depart early Friday morning on an Air India flight, but now they are looking for new dates as no airline has Economy Class seats avaialble. Worst hit are the pilgrims who after performing Umrah have been left to fend for themselves. “Even the agency representative who organized our visit is nowhere to be seen,” said one of the pilgrims at King Abdul Aziz International Airport. A visit to the airport showed pilgrims with confirmed bookings on Air India approaching airport officials to know their fate. With Air India's Manager Pravin Mistry reportedly on leave, no other official was available to comment on the situation here. An executive at Air India's General Sales Agent Kanoo Travel, speaking on anonymity, confirmed that Air India's flights to and from Jeddah have been disrupted for the past three days. “The carrier is, however, making efforts to fly some flights to Saudi Arabia and elsewhere with a skeleton staff. The flight to Kozhikode was canceled Tuesday and the incoming flight from Hyderabad did not arrive on that day. The flight bound for Kozhikode on Wednesday night from Jeddah has been rescheduled for departure at 12 noon Friday.” He added that the carrier was willing to endorse confirmed bookings on other carriers. “What's the use of endorsements if seats are not available on other airlines,” another travel agent said. “The pressure is obviously on Saudia, whose flights are already overbooked,” he added. According to Air India, it has temporarily suspended bookings for mostly Westbound flights from Delhi and Mumbai. The debt-ridden carrier is also contacting companies to lease planes to deal with the situation. At the moment, Air India is using 110 executive Air India pilots to fly as many flights as possible. Some 48 Air India flights have been cancelled due to the strike. Air India normally operates about 50 international flights everyday. The Delhi High Court Wednesday declared the strike illegal. But despite this, the pilots remain defiant. The management is of the view that the matter is now between the court and pilots. India's Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh reiterated that the government is open to discussions to sort out the matter. He, however, insisted that he expects the pilots to follow the High Court order and return to work first. “Let us hope that pilots will follow High Court order. Everything is negotiable and we can talk. We have been saying this from day one. First let them make sure that Air India doesn't lose credibility. Let them go back to work. Just imagine that in this high intensity operation, they are calling sick...these are total lies,” the minister said. __
