IndiGo cancels 550 flights amid chaos at airports; DGCA steps in, airline issues apology

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The operational crisis at the country's largest airline, IndiGo, shows no signs of abating. The crisis reached its peak on Thursday, causing significant inconvenience to air travelers across the country. The airline canceled more than 550 flights in a single day, leaving thousands of passengers stranded at airports.

According to reports, 191 flights were affected in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad alone. Long queues formed at check-in counters, leaving passengers facing hours of uncertainty and waiting. Angry passengers shared videos and photos on social media, questioning the airline's handling of the situation.

Following operational disruptions and strictures from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), IndiGo has issued an official statement apologizing. "There has been widespread disruption to IndiGo's network and operations over the past two days. We apologize to all passengers and stakeholders. Our teams are coordinating with MOCA, DGCA, BCAS, AAI, and airport operators to restore normalcy," the airline said in a statement.

Why did the situation worsen?

IndiGo, the country's leading airline, which normally serves 3.8 lakh passengers daily through around 2,300 flights, is facing serious operational challenges these days. Following the DGCA's strictness, the airline shared details of a total of 1,232 flights cancelled in November, in which the biggest reason was 'staff shortage', due to which 755 flights had to be cancelled. Apart from this, 258 flights were cancelled due to airport restrictions, 92 due to ATC failure and 127 flights due to other reasons. In view of these figures, the DGCA has issued strict instructions to the airline to speed up the crew recruitment process and improve its operational plan with immediate effect.

Amid this crisis, an email sent by IndiGo CEO Peter Albert to employees is also making the rounds. In it, he admitted that the airline had failed to fulfill its service promises. He wrote, "We serve 380,000 passengers daily and want every customer to have a great experience. We failed to fulfill this promise recently and have publicly apologized for this."

The CEO attributed the crisis to minor technical glitches, bad weather, congestion in the aviation system and the impact of new FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms.