Major private airliners today cancelled over 170 flights from various cities to West Bengal and Kerala in the wake of the strike called by central trade unions, but national carrier Air India said its operations were not hampered due to the stir.
Air operations to and from Kolkata were crippled as the private airliners like Kingfisher, Jet Airways, Jetlite, Indigo and Spicejet cancelled nearly 177 flights mainly to the two Left-ruled states.
Passengers were stranded at Kolkata airport as public transport was also hit by the day-long stir.
However, Air India sources told PTI that flight operations by the airliner remained normal as it flew aircraft from Kolkata in the morning after the strike began at 6 AM.
The flights included an international one to Singapore and domestic flights to Mumbai, Port Blair, New Delhi, Silchar and Aizwal, the sources said.
They said Air India had cancelled its flight to Kathmandu.
Six flights on the Chennai-Kolkata route were affected, airport sources said in Chennai.
Officials at Delhi airport said there was no impact of the strike on any of its operations.
Among the airlines, Air India's flights to Kolkata were as per schedule but Kingfisher airlines and Jet airways did not operate any flights to West Bengal.
As many as 29 King Fisher flights, that includes to and from from Kolkata, and 70 of Jet and Jetlite combined did not operate, officials of the airline companies said.
Spicejet has cancelled 27 of its flights across India and Indigo did not operate 51 of its flights, DGCA officials said.
