Siliguri, May 26: Air Deccan might have made flying cheaper but their motto ? ?simply fly? ? is apparently not that simple.

Trouble broke out at the Bagdogra airport today, when around 50 Delhi-bound passengers, most of them tourists, had an altercation with Air Deccan officials, as they were not told beforehand that their flight had been cancelled. The situation was brought under control with the intervention of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel. A few of the passengers were later accommodated on other flights, while most of them had to stay back.

This was not an isolated incident. Air Deccan has already cancelled its Calcutta flights twice during this peak season, stranding the passengers. Besides, the flights are regularly delayed, so much so, that the tourism industry in the region is reportedly facing a major threat, thanks to its alleged inefficient services.

Not only that, in the past few days, almost all Air Deccan flights connecting Bagdogra to Delhi have been cancelled. In some cases, the passengers were not even informed about it beforehand.

Yesterday, a Vizag-based tourist group was supposed to catch an Air Deccan flight to Bagdogra from Calcutta at 1.30 pm. ?But we waited at Dum Dum till 4.30 pm when we came to know that the flight had been cancelled. Later we had to take a bus ride,? Shyla Kurma told The Telegraph from a hotel in Gangtok. ?Had the flight been on schedule, we would have reached Gangtok by 11 am, but instead, we reached at 6 pm.?

Air Deccan had launched its services in Bagdogra over a year ago, alluring passengers with promises like low-cost tickets and better connectivity than the Indian Railways. It had drawn a huge number of middle-class tourists, who wanted to take advantage of both budget tickets as well as cut down on travel time.

But according to the tour operators, the experiences over the last year have turned out to be ?quite bitter?. ?Cancellation of Air Deccan flights has become a regular practice, which has caused immense suffering to middleclass tourists,? said Santanu Chowdhury, a Siliguri-based private tour operator. ?Due to the poor flight services, the entire industry faces a bad impression.?

Contacted over phone, the vice president (operations) of Air Deccan, Preetam Philip, said: ?Recently an aircraft was grounded in Dibrugarh, which caused irregularities in the services in the region. There should not be any problem from tomorrow.?

Suman Roy, a travel agent here, however, felt that the authorities should have made alternative arrangements or informed the passengers about the delay in advance.

Philip failed to provide any explanation why the flights were cancelled at Bagdogra over the past few days. ?Call me after some time and I?ll give you the details,? he said. He, however, could not be contacted later.