Lockdown changes torment fliers

Thousands of people have to cancel or rebook their flight tickets following the change in the lockdown dates announced by the Bengal government on Monday.

Airlines said the change of dates was leaving passengers inconvenienced as many of them have already cancelled their tickets more than once before because of the state government’s last-minute decisions on stalling flights.

The government had earlier announced that the state would be under “complete lockdown” on August 5, 8, 16, 17, 23, 24 and 31. The dates announced on Monday are 5, 8, 20, 21, 27, 28 and 31.

“In view of the government order issued on August 3, flight operations at the Calcutta airport will remain suspended on the revised lockdown dates,” an official at the airport said. Which means flights will operate on August 16, 17, 23 and 24, the days the state was to be in lockdown according to the earlier order.