Travel chaos eases as IndiGo announces 1,500 flights for the day

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): IndiGo Airlines has been facing a serious operational crisis for the past five days, resulting in the cancellation of a large number of flights and affecting the travel of thousands of passengers. As the situation worsened, aviation regulator DGCA took strict action on Saturday and issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo CEO Peter Elbers and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras, asking them to provide an explanation within 24 hours.

Big relief for air travellers, IndiGo will operate 1,500 flights today; airline issues statement: The DGCA notice said that the massive flight delays and cancellations clearly indicate that the airline failed to meet the required standards in its planning, monitoring and resource management. The regulator believes that the main reason for the flight disruptions is the lack of timely preparations for implementing the new FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitation) norms.

Meanwhile, IndiGo acknowledged in an official statement that it had to cancel a significant number of flights to stabilize its network. According to the airline, it operated just over 700 flights on Friday, connecting 113 destinations. The company said this action was necessary to balance systems, rosters, and network operations so that the situation could return to normal the following day.

The airline said it was operating over 1,500 flights on Sunday and that approximately 95 percent of its network had been restored. IndiGo said it had resumed services to 135 of its 138 destinations. Apologizing to passengers, the airline said it still needed significant improvement, but was fully committed to regaining customer confidence. The company also thanked passengers and employees for their cooperation. Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister K. Ramamohan Naidu held a high-level meeting with the airline's CEO to assess the situation. The ministry has directed IndiGo to take concrete steps to prevent such disruptions in the future.