Thousands of passengers were left furious and frustrated across airports in the country as scores of IndiGo flights were cancelled or delayed on Wednesday.
According to media reports, IndiGo cancelled over 70 flights, including those from Bengaluru and Mumbai airports, and several flights were delayed at various airports.
Reports suggest that there have been nearly 200 flight cancellations through Tuesday and Wednesday across airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.
The company acknowledged that there have been several unavoidable flight delays and some cancellations in the past few days due to various reasons, including technology issues, airport congestion, and operational requirements.
What caused the delays and cancellations?
Sources have told news agency PTI that IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports.
The latest FDTL norms, which entail increased weekly rest periods to 48 hours, extension of night hours, and limiting the number of night landings to only two as against six earlier, were initially opposed by the domestic airlines, including IndiGo and Air India. Despite the objections, the norms were rolled out by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) following the Delhi High Court's directives, albeit after a delay of over one year and in a phased manner and with certain variations to airlines like IndiGo and Air India.
Some flights were cancelled because there was not enough cabin crew. "The airline is sending crew to different bases to operate flights, but the shortage is such that things are out of hand," Times of India quoted airport officials as saying.
"The situation turned bad on Tuesday for the airline and the shortage turned worse on Wednesday with scores of flights cancelled and delayed from across airports in the country," PTI quoted a source as saying.
IndiGo says sorry
In a press statement, IndiGo acknowledged that the company's operations were significantly disrupted across the network for the past two days and apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience caused.
“A multitude of unforeseen operational challenges, including minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system, and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (FDTL) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated," the company said.
In a bid to contain the disruption and restore stability, IndiGo initiated calibrated adjustments to the the schedules and added that these measures will remain in place for the next 48 hours.
"Our teams are working around the clock to ease customer discomfort and ensure operations stabilise as quickly as possible. Furthermore, the affected customers are being offered alternate travel arrangements to reach their destinations or refunds, as applicable," the company added.
