A large number of Indians are facing inconveniences due to the cancelation of Air-India flights to Lucknow since March 2008, said Mohammad Faheem Siddiqui, the state president of Indian National League (INL) in Uttar Pradesh. Demanding an immediate restoration of the flights, Siddiqui said, “It's now almost a year, when the Air-India, which was flying thrice a week, suddenly decided to wind up the Lucknow sector without giving any reason or explanation.” Air-India was flying thrice a week on Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays on Jeddah-Lucknow-Delhi-Jeddah route, benefiting a large number of passengers destined for Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Calling it quite unfortunate, Siddiqui said that an Indian delegation under the leadership of Syed Sibtey Rizvi had visited Jeddah in Feb. 2008, to discuss with the Saudi Arabian Airlines to introduce its flights in the same sector to meet the growing number of passengers on the Jeddah-Lucknow-Delhi-Jeddah route. The Saudi Arabian Airlines, he said, had assured the members of the delegation of providing such a route to its flights beginning April the same year. The Saudi Arabian Airlines is yet to start any such flight, and adding to the passengers' woes, Air-India also withdrew its flights from March without assigning any reasons. “Our requests to Air-India so far have fallen on deaf ears. They keep on assuring us that the flights will be restarted very soon,” he said and demanded “restoration of the flights thrice in week,” in the absence of which it will continue to cause great inconveniences to the people of the largest region in India.
