Movement of flights affected in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, June 14 (UNI) As many as 13 'Indian' flights from Kerala were cancelled and several others delayed before the airline employees called off the strike today.

The IC 590 Sharjah-Thiruvananthapuram-Chennai, IC 169 Delhi-Mumbai -Thiruvananthapuram and IC 967 flight to Sharjah were cancelled from the international airport here, sources said, adding several inter-flights were delayed, some of them for more than five hours.

Five flights from the Nedumbassery international airport were cancelled -- IC 502 Agathi-Kochi, IC 166 Kochi-Mumbai-Delhi, IC 165 Delhi-Mumbai-Kochi, IC 976 Sharjah-Kochi-Chennai and IC 998 Bahrain-Doha-Kochi, the sources said.

Two flights flew out of Kochi -- IC 909 Bangalore-Kochi- Thiruvananthapuram and IC 997 Kochi-Kozhikode-Bahrain-Doha. They claimed that the strike had not affected the operations of the airport as most of the ground work was handled by Air India staff.

Five flights from Karippur international airport were cancelled and several flights delayed, a report from Kozhikode said.

The cancelled flights from Kozhikode were IC-598 Goa-Mumbai, IC-926 Chennai, IC-998 Kochi, IC-538 Dubai and IC-658 Coimbatore-Mumbai-Delhi, Airlines' Station Manager N Kannan told UNI.

He said alternative arrangements were being made to fly the stranded passengers to their respective destinations by other airlines. Ground staff numbering 79, out of 85, were on agitation to press their demands, including realisation of arrears.

UNI