Passengers stranded for hours at Kochi airport

NEDUMBASSERY: Over 500 passengers travelling to different countries from the Kochi Airport were stranded for over three hours after the SITA connectivity network assisting the clearance of check-in operations and issue of boarding passes failed country-wide on Thursday evening. The passengers of three Jet Airways flights and an Air Arabia flight were the worst affected. The check-in operations and issue of boarding passes for passengers of various airlines are controlled by SITA.With the failure of connectivity, the ground handling staff at the airport were forced to take up the check-in and issuing of boarding passes manually, which turned into a time-consuming process. Serpentine queues were seen in front of the check-in counters of various airlines from 6.30 pm. The connectivity was restored by 9.30 pm. SITA, the world’s leading specialist in air transport communications and information technology, works closely with every sector of the air transport community by innovating, developing and managing business solutions over the world’s most extensive network - one that forms the ‘communication backbone’ of the global air transport industry.