Indigo flights chaos enters day seven, operations far from normal as over 350 flights cancelled
PTC News Desk: Operations at IndiGo, India’s largest airline, are still far from normal, with flight disruptions continuing for the seventh consecutive day in what has become the country’s biggest-ever aviation crisis. On Monday, more than 350 IndiGo flights were cancelled across several airports.
At Delhi alone, 134 flights were cancelled — 75 departures and 59 arrivals. Bengaluru reported 127 cancellations, Chennai 71, Hyderabad 77, and Jammu 20. In Ahmedabad, 20 flights were grounded, while seven were cancelled in Vizag. Major airports like Mumbai and Kolkata also faced heavy disruptions. By 10:30 am, the total number of known cancellations had reached 456. On Sunday, cancellations were even higher at over 650, down from more than 1,000 two days earlier. Officials said over ₹610 crore in ticket refunds have been processed.
The crisis began due to a severe shortage of cockpit crew after new pilot rest rules — the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) — were fully enforced. The sudden impact led to chaos at airports nationwide, prompting the government to intervene and temporarily suspend the rule. IndiGo expects to restore normal operations by December 10.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has capped ticket prices, ordered faster refunds, and launched a high-level probe. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the airline is responsible for the situation, noting that the duty rule was announced a year ago.
IndiGo says it is investigating the underlying causes of the disruption. The ministry also confirmed that the airline has returned ₹610 crore in refunds and delivered around 3,000 lost luggage items to passengers as of Saturday.
- With inputs from agencies
