IndiGo operates 1,650 flights, issues ₹610 crore in refunds and returns 3,000 bags

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) - This is the sixth consecutive day of operational crisis at IndiGo. The country's largest airline company IndiGo has cancelled 650 flights today i.e. Sunday as well. However, the company is operating 1650 flights out of the 2300 domestic and international flights scheduled for today. Meanwhile, on Sunday the Civil Aviation Ministry said that a total refund of Rs 610 crore has been given to IndiGo passengers so far. Apart from this, IndiGo has also handed over more than 3000 bags to the passengers across the country.

CEO Peter Elbers said on Sunday that the airline is operating around 1650 flights on Sunday and we are slowly returning to normalcy. He said that IndiGo has made further improvements in its system today. The CEO said, "We are now cancelling flights in the first phase itself, so that passengers whose flights are being cancelled do not reach the airport. Today's OTP is expected to be around 75%, which is much higher than yesterday's 30%." Let us tell you that on Saturday more than 800 flights of IndiGo were cancelled, whereas on Friday the company had cancelled more than 1000 flights.

IndiGo, the airline's largest operational crisis, has canceled thousands of flights. Changes to pilot duty hours under new regulations and IndiGo's "lean-staffing" model combined to lead to this devastating crisis. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) amended its Fly Duty Time Limit (FDTL) regulations. Under the new regulations, pilots' weekly breaks were increased from 36 hours to 48 hours, and the number of night flights was limited to two. The new regulations significantly reduced the number of flights operated by each pilot. IndiGo had required 2,422 captains for its Airbus A320 fleet, but only had 2,357 available captains and a shortage of first officers, forcing IndiGo to cancel hundreds of flights daily.