Around 700 passengers on Friday were stranded at the Indira Gandhi International Airport’s Terminal-3 after Germany-based Lufthansa airline cancelled two of its flights due to a pilots' strike, police said.
According to police, more than 100 people, relatives and family members of the stranded passengers, gathered outside the airport and demanded refunds or alternate arrangements. A senior officer said information was received on Friday at 12.15 am that a crowd has gathered on the main road in front of departure gate number 1, Terminal 3 IGI Airport.
The crowd which caused a traffic jam outside demanded a refund or alternate arrangement for their relatives who were present inside the terminal building, Deputy Commissioner of Police (airport) Tanu Sharma said.
When they were told that the flights had been cancelled without any prior intimation, they became agitated. They were later pacified by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the airport staff.
Sharma said two flights of Lufthansa, one of them scheduled to depart at 2.50 am for Frankfurt with 300 passengers, and another for Munich with 400 passengers and scheduled to depart at 1.10 am, were cancelled. Both flights were cancelled by the Lufthansa headquarters due to a one-day strike of all Lufthansa pilots demanding salary appraisals.
The police added the airline is taking steps to make alternate arrangements.
Around 800 flights have been cancelled, affecting around 1,30,000 passengers because of Lufthansa pilots' strike, according to DW News, which adds that the pilots union is on strike over demand of a 5.5 per cent pay rise over 5,000 pilots.
(With PTI inputs)
