The MDLR office at Sonari airport. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, May 25: Passengers are facing a harrowing time due to the sudden cancellation of flights by MDLR Airlines.

The private airline has not been operating its flight (9H172) from Chandigarh to Jamshedpur via New Delhi and Ranchi from May 21.

Officials at the airport revealed that the flight had been cancelled due to an emergency check. The aircraft used in that route had to undergo necessary maintenance.

The private airline has cancelled all bookings from May 20 to 26, drawing the ire of passengers.

“We are in a fix as the private airline has decided not to operate its flight due to a maintenance job. We can’t think of travelling by trains as the waiting list is too long and it is difficult to get reserved seats due to summer vacations. The worst affected are businessmen who travel to Delhi, Ranchi and Calcutta regularly,” said industrialist Alok Chowdhury.

The airline has asked passengers who have already purchased the tickets to get refunds. The airline also offered to provide flying options to passengers in other private airline.

“The check was necessary for the safety and security of passengers. Customers have the right to feel bad about the whole incident but this was something we could not ignore. However, we are refunding the passengers or arranging their reservations in other airline at our expense. We will see to it that none of the passengers faces problems,” said a senior official of MDLR Airlines from Gurgaon.

Though flight services are expected to remain cancelled till May 27, the date for resumption of services has not yet been finalised. Officials say that services are expected to resume from May 28.

However, the dates will only be finalised after the CEO’s directives.

“We have bookings from May 27 but if any change comes up, we will inform customers beforehand, no matter what time of the day it is. We will find a solution for them,” said an official.

MDLR’s flight from Jamshedpur to Calcutta was cancelled from April 25 following a directive from the director-general of civil aviation. The private airline had also requested the DGCA for granting an approval to resume the flight.

But, the DGCA’s decision is yet to come.