Over 41,435 passengers are stranded in Delhi and Mumbai airports since the global air traffic to European and North American cities had come to a complete halt due to the huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano that has precipitated the worst air travel chaos since September 11 attack. Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines have cancelled over 50 flights in the last five days, as airports in Europe remain shut, hitting travel to US and Canada as well.
?The ministry of civil aviation has set up a control room, headed by joint secretary Prashant Shukul, with officials from ministry of external affairs and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to clear the backlog,? civil aviation secretary M Madhavan Nambiar said on Monday.
?Though Air India and Jet Airways have started their services to the United States through Athens and Egypt but the situation is still grim,? he said. The ministry has asked the airlines not to the take benefit of the situation and charge higher fares for the tickets. Indian carriers flying to European destinations are likely to lose Rs 20 crore a day due to the flight cancellations. The estimate doesn?t include the additional charges like re-routing the flights, care of stranded passengers and stranded aircrafts at various airports.
Nambiar said five of Air India?s aircraft are stuck at various stations, ?Two are stuck in London, one each at Frankfurt, Chicago and New York?. He said the government is in talks with Greece to grant ?third and fourth freedom? rights which allow passengers from India to disembark and embark at Athens and take another flight or train to Europe.
According to the IATA, airlines across the world are collectively losing $200 million a day due to cancelled flights. Amedeus India managing director Ankur Bhatia said, ?European authorities believe that northern and eastern European air space will remain closed for the next several days, at least.?
Ironically, the incident comes at a time when Indian carriers were trying to cash in on the peak out-bound travel season from India. Generally, carriers earn around 50% of the total annual revenues from international operations. Jet airways, which operated flights via Athens to the US and Canada on Saturday has ensured that the chosen route via Athens is one that would avoid the volcanic ash affected air space.