Disruption as Kingfisher cancels Mumbai flights

Passengers booked to fly with Kingfisher Airlines between Hong Kong and Mumbai had their travel plans disrupted after the troubled carrier yesterday cancelled its daily flights between the cities.

One travel agent estimated that about 260 passengers a day would have to make alternative plans.

An Airport Authority spokeswoman said: 'Kingfisher has suspended its flight between Hong Kong and Mumbai till March 24. There is no impact on airport operations for the time being; we understand that the airline has notified its passengers of the flight suspension in advance and we haven't seen passengers turning up for the suspended flight.'

She said the airline's daily flight between Hong Kong and Delhi remained operational.

Anu Sharma, manager of outbound travel at Nanda Travel, said: 'This was not unexpected and most travel agents have made alternative arrangements for passengers holding Kingfisher bookings'.

But she added: 'There will be disruption ... Other airlines are not going to accept Kingfisher tickets.'

Cathay Pacific, which flies twice daily to Mumbai, said it did not have an interline agreement with Kingfisher Airlines, which meant it could not accept the carrier's tickets.

One travel source said there could be 'a couple of thousand Kingfisher tickets floating around ... for travel between Hong Kong and Mumbai'.

Nevcivan Cetiner, Kingfisher's area manager for Hong Kong, could not be contacted last night.

The cancellation of the service comes just days after the International Air Transport Association suspended Kingfisher's participation in its billing and settlement systems for passengers and cargo because the airline had failed to pay a cash deposit. The carrier has already slashed its network after grounding at least 36 of its 64 aircraft when India froze its bank accounts in a tax dispute.