Passengers at Kannur International Airport staged a protest on Monday after an Air India Express flight to Thiruvananthapuram was delayed by nearly six hours, disrupting travel plans and prompting complaints over communication from the airline.
According to reports from National Herald, the flight was originally scheduled to depart at around 7 am but was rescheduled to approximately 1 pm following a technical issue involving the incoming aircraft operating the service.
Television footage showed passengers confronting airline personnel, with some alleging they had not received prior information about the revised departure schedule.
Airline sources said the aircraft assigned to operate the Kannur-Thiruvananthapuram service was arriving from Muscat.
The aircraft's departure from the Omani capital was delayed after it was grounded due to a technical problem, creating a knock-on effect on subsequent operations.
According to an airline official cited in reports, the delayed arrival of the Muscat flight directly affected the departure schedule from Kannur.
A major point of contention during the protest was the alleged lack of advance notification regarding the delay.
Passengers claimed they were not adequately informed about the revised departure time, leading to frustration at the airport.
The airline, however, disputed the allegation.
According to an airline official, passengers had been informed in advance about the delay and those who participated in the protest were already aware of the revised schedule.
The official also stated that the delayed aircraft had subsequently arrived and the Thiruvananthapuram-bound service was expected to depart shortly.
Air India Express offered affected passengers the option to either reschedule their journey or seek a refund.
Such measures are commonly used by airlines during operational disruptions to provide flexibility to travellers facing delays or schedule changes.
The incident highlights the operational impact technical issues can have on tightly scheduled airline networks, particularly when aircraft rotations connect multiple destinations across international and domestic routes.
The disruption also led to conflicting reports regarding a separate Air India Express flight from Kannur to Dubai.
An airline official maintained that no Dubai-bound service had been cancelled because of the operational issue.
However, airport sources reportedly claimed earlier in the day that the Dubai flight had been cancelled following the grounding of the aircraft in Muscat. According to those sources, some affected passengers had also joined the protest at the airport.
Neither account provided further details on the final status of the Dubai service.
The incident comes amid continued focus on airline operational reliability and passenger communication during disruptions. While technical checks are an essential part of aviation safety, delays can quickly affect multiple services when aircraft are deployed across interconnected routes.
For Air India Express, the immediate challenge was restoring schedules and addressing passenger concerns. The broader issue remains ensuring timely communication and operational recovery when technical disruptions occur across the network.
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