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Hi-flyers rattled by Alliance crash

Rifat Jawaid in Calcutta

Twenty-four hours after Alliance Air's doomed flight CD 7412 crashed in Patna, the same flight left Calcutta on Tuesday morning with considerably fewer passengers. Airline officials at Netaji Subhas Airport told rediff.com that the flight carried only 16 passengers and 17 relatives of crash victims.

Understandably, passengers who often boarded CD 7412 in the past are now increasingly apprehensive about its safety. According to sources in Indian Airlines, which owns Alliance Air, though there was a full booking for Tuesday's flight, people began cancelling their tickets soon after news of the crash became known to all and sundry.

" We were inundated with requests by passengers to cancel their bookings since Monday morning. I understand that people are gripped by a fear psychosis after our Calcutta-Patna-Lucknow-Delhi flight met with a disaster. But I am convinced that they will soon be relieved of the fear," an AA official said.

Rediff.com found traces of this fear psychosis among passengers planning to board planes for different destinations. S Roy, an executive in a multinational company, had to report to his Jaipur-based office on Monday. He came to know about the plane crash when this correspondent tried to elicit his opinion on the tragedy.

"What? When did it happen? Come what may, I am not travelling in planes anymore," was how Roy, in his mid-thirties, reacted. Harangued by both his wife and four-year-old kid, Roy had little option but to cancel his ticket.

Another passenger S Khamar, waiting to board a Jaipur bound flight, appeared critical about the safety standard of Alliance Air. He said," Last year, on my way back to Calcutta from Bagdogra in an AA flight, I was terribly frightened to see that the entire plane was shaking. When I expressed my fears to the airhostess, she assured me saying that it was a routine event. Even more alarming was her candid confession that the crew's hearts were in their mouths every time they boarded Alliance Air flights. What more can I say."

While 12 dead bodies arrived in Calcutta late on Monday night, IA officials said that another special plane carrying victims and their relatives is expected to arrive on Tuesday. "The process of identifying the dead passengers is still on. Relatives are facing difficult recognising the mangled bodies. A magistrate's approval is mandatory before handing over a body to relatives. He has to be absolutely sure that the right mortal remains are handed over to the right people," an IA official told rediff.com.

Calcutta has two Patna bound flights daily. Besides CD 7412, Sahara Airlines' S2-908 flies to Patna thrice a week. Though SA officials claim that the crash did not have any impact on their bookings, sources in the company said passengers had been calling its Theatre Road office since Monday morning wishing to cancel their tickets.

Meanwhile, a special train carrying victims and their relatives is expected to reach Calcutta on Tuesday.

See full coverage of the Alliance Air crash

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