The country's largest airline, IndiGo, continued to witness intense operational turbulence on Thursday as more than 550 domestic and international flights were cancelled while hundreds more were delayed for the third day in a row. This caused widespread disruption, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at major airports.
Major airports hit hard
As per the data received on Thursday-December 4, Delhi accounted for the highest cancellations at 172, Mumbai at 118, Bengaluru at 100, Hyderabad at 75, Kolkata at 35, Chennai at 26, and Goa at 11. Many other airports also reported cancellations and considerable delays.
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Late Thursday evening, IndiGo acknowledged the widespread disruption and tendered a public apology: " The last two days have seen widespread disruption across IndiGo’s network and operations. We extend a heartfelt apology to all our customers and industry stakeholders who have been impacted by these events,” IndiGo wrote in an X post.
Airline cites multiple operational challenges
IndiGo said “teams are working diligently and making all efforts with the support of MOCA, DGCA, BCAS, AAI and airport operators to reduce the cascading impact of these delays and restore normalcy.”
As per a report by India Today, in an email to staff, the Chief Executive Officer, Pieter Elbers, said that it would not be an “easy target” to return to normal schedules. He said to the employees, “We serve close to 380,000 customers a day and want each of them to have a good experience. We could not live up to that promise these past days, and we have publicly apologised for that.”
“An accumulation of several operational challenges, including minor technology glitches, schedule changes, adverse weather conditions, heightened congestion in the aviation ecosystem, and the implementation of the FDTL norms, compounded negatively to create a cascading impact on our operations”, he wrote further.
The carrier has now adjusted its schedules and implemented planned cancellations to stabilise operations.
DGCA flags sharp drop in on-time performance
The disruptions coincided with an important meeting between IndiGo leadership and aviation regulators. According to data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, IndiGo's on-time performance fell to 19.7% Wednesday from 35% a day earlier massive fall for a carrier known for punctuality. DGCA, in a statement, said, “IndiGo has been experiencing a sharp rise in cancellations, reaching approximately 170-200 flights per day, which is substantially higher than normal.”
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In a submission to DGCA, IndiGo reported, “Out of those 1,232 flights, 755 were cancelled because of staff shortages, 92 were cancelled due to the failure of Air Traffic Control (ATC), 258 were cancelled due to airport restrictions, and 127 were cancelled for other reasons.”
As per the report by India Today, DGCA has advised IndiGo to add more crew and take corrective measures. The airline said it was keeping passengers updated and was focused on restoring normal operations at the earliest.
