Utter chaos prevailed at the Visakhapatnam International Airport on Friday due to lack of communication to individual passengers on the change of timings by an airline operator. Failure of the public address systems added to the confusion.
“Air India Dubai flight arrived here from New Delhi and left around 4 p.m., two hours ahead of its normal schedule. I did not receive any communication from AI on the change of schedule and when I approached the AI authorities, they threatened to deduct a penalty of Rs.2,000. They agreed to accommodate me on Saturday’s flight but only after a lot of discussion,” said a passenger from Srikakulam. Another passenger from Vizianagaram also missed the flight due to non-intimation of the change in schedule.
“International flights are not being operated from Visakhapatnam at present as the Customs/Immigration services have been suspended at the airport in view of the extensive damaged caused to the terminal building by Hudhud. The AI flight is operating as a domestic flight till Hyderabad and International passengers from the city will have to fly as domestic passengers till Hyderabad and get their Customs and Immigration checks done there before continuing their journey,” Airport Director C. Pattabhi told The Hindu on Friday. “The change in timings was made after the cyclone and the airlines must have made the information available on their websites.”
