KOCHI: Air India Express has hit the expat Malayaless again. Several services, including those to the Gulf, have been cancelled today. These are services from Nedumbassery, Karipur and Kannur airports. Flights from Nedumbassery to Dammam at 8.35 and Bahrain at 9.30 were cancelled. Two Air India Express flights from Kannur were also cancelled. Muscat and Riyadh flights were cancelled. Officials also informed that the Jeddah flight scheduled to depart at 1.20 will be delayed. The Dubai flight scheduled to depart from Karipur at 8.25 has been cancelled. The decision of the Air India Express has come as a shock to many passengers.

Services were cancelled yesterday also. Six flights from Kochi were suspended yesterday. Bengaluru, Kolkata and Hyderabad flights were cancelled. Kochi services from Sharjah and Bahrain were also suspended.

Three Air India services from Karipur were canceled yesterday. Ras Al Khaimah, Muscat and Bengaluru flights have been cancelled. Passengers were informed in advance. The cancellation will continue for two more days. Meantime, services to Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur were not disrupted. The continued cancellation of services two days after the employees' strike was called off has caused severe resentment among the passengers.

The authorities had announced the other day that the services will start as soon as the striking employees return. Crews have started returning to work, but cabin crew need to get a fitness certificate to resume work. Officials informed that the steps will be expedited. Due to the strong intervention of the central government, the strike of Air India Express employees reached a settlement last Thursday. The decision was taken during a discussion held by the employees' association and representatives of Air India in the presence of the chief labor commissioner (central) in Delhi. As per the agreement, the dismissal of 30 employees was also cancelled.