Airport staff protest over non release of bonus

CHENNAI: The Airport Authority staff took to a lunch-break protest here over the non-allocation of any festival bonus for the past few years. The airport sources said the Centre had announced bonuses in 2018 and 2019 but as promised the bonus was not provided. Later in 2020 and 2021, the airport was shut down due to a COVID-induced lockdown. This year the staff requested Central Civil Aviation to provide them with the bonuses which were promised in 2018 and 2019 and it was promised that the same would be provided before Friday ahead of Deepavali. A few days ago the staff were informed that permission has been granted and the money would be released only in the coming days which triggered the protest. They said they would continue to protest till they receive the bonus. However, flight operations were not affected by the protest.