JEDDAH: Local Air India offices and travel agencies said they were unable to make new bookings, as the airline “closed” its flights until Oct. 15 following a pilots’ strike.

“Even if we want, we cannot make new bookings as the flights are closed on the system,” a major travel agency executive told Arab News on Tuesday, the fourth day of strike.

Air India sources said there were no incoming or outgoing flights notified and so those booked on the airline from the Kingdom were being issued endorsements on other international carriers.

There is utter confusion among passengers who traveled on Air India to various destinations during the summer break and are scheduled to return in the next two weeks.

“There are cases of people whose re-entry visas are about to expire,” he said.

Many travel agents said they were keeping their fingers crossed as the Haj season was also approaching.

“What will happen to the special Haj flights, as Air India has to transport the bulk of the pilgrims,” one of them asked.

Hundreds of Gulf-bound passengers remained stranded at various national and international airports in India.

Among the badly hit airports were three in Kerala as Air India suspended more than a dozen services, including its domestic flights, from Tuesday.

Passengers in these airports also complained of hostile behavior by airline officials after they were promised alternative arrangements.

“I have to report for duty on Wednesday. I knew of the cancellation of my flight only after I reached the airport,” said A.K. Nissar, a Sharjah-bound passenger in Thiruvananthapuram.

“Both the striking pilots and the Air India authorities appear to be insensitive to our plight. We risk losing our jobs but nobody is concerned,” he added.

The vacationing workers have to return to the countries where they work before their re-entry visas expire.

Passengers who came from remote areas of Kerala are camping at the airport with the hope that Air India would make alternative arrangements for their travel. The flights have been canceled or indefinitely delayed.

The three international airports in Kerala — Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram witnessed tense moments as the agitated passengers engaged in heated exchanges with the airline’s officials.

Kerala has some two million people working abroad, mainly in the Gulf, and their remittances, which constitute 20 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, are considered the lifeline of its economy.

Reports from New Delhi said the Indian government on Tuesday talked tough on the Air India strike giving the pilots a virtual ultimatum asking them to resume duty from Wednesday or face “action”.

However, the striking pilots were unfazed saying they would continue with their protest.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel insisted that the cost-cutting decision on Productivity-Linked Incentive (PLI) had not been implemented as yet and hence the pilots had “no reason to be aggrieved”.

“I hope the entire airline will come back to full operation from tomorrow (Wednesday), failing which the management will be free to take any decision that it feels is necessary,” the minister said.

Captain V.K. Bhalla, who is spearheading the pilots’ agitation, made it clear that the stir would not be given up. “We are not resuming work tomorrow,” he said.

— With input from Mohammed Ashraf in Thiruvananthapuram