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Chaos at airports across India again as at least 250 IndiGo flights cancelled
Indigo flights cancelled: On Thursday, many of IndiGo’s flights were delayed or cancelled as passengers were left stranded at airports across India.
IndiGo continues to face operational disruptions as chaos broke out at several airports across the country after at least 250 flights were cancelled on Thursday. Visuals shared on social media showed crowds of passengers waiting at airports amid delays in flights and several others being cancelled by India’s largest airline amid a crew shortage.
IndiGo’s on time performance fell to 19.7 percent on Wednesday, down from 35 percent the previous day.
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IndiGo’s flight disruption woes continue
An official familiar with the situation said that on Thursday, 33 flights were cancelled in Delhi, 68 in Hyderabad, 85 in Mumbai and 73 in Bengaluru.
On Thursday, many of IndiGo’s flights were delayed or cancelled as thousands of passengers were left stranded at airports across India.
At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, 33 IndiGo outgoing flights were cancelled on Thursday and 73 flights were cancelled at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, an official familiar with the situation told Hindustan Times.
Meanwhile, 68 flights were cancelled at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and 85 flights were cancelled at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
Many flights are also expected to be cancelled at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport.
On Wednesday, Delhi airport saw 67 flight cancellations, while Bengaluru had 42, Hyderabad had 40, and Mumbai saw 33 flight cancellations.
Indigo flights cancelled: Chaos at airports across India
The disruptions have impacted thousands of passengers across the country for three consecutive days.
Videos shared on social media showed chaos continuing on Thursday as flight disruptions impacted IndiGo.
Take a look at some of them below:
A netizen wrote, “We have been at Hyderabad Airport from yesterday at 6:00 PM until today at 9:00 AM—over 12 hours—with no action taken by IndiGo regarding the Pune flight. This situation has caused significant inconvenience.”
Another user wrote on X, “Frustrating experience with @IndiGoAir! My flight was delayed for 22 hours with no clear communication or compensation. Not what I expected from India's largest airline.”
“Cancelling / rescheduling flights at the last moments by crazy hrs. It’s not just inconvenience at this stage it’s low key harassment! My flight from Bglr got cancelled n my Bro’s flight from Kolkata got delayed twice,” another user wrote.
Why are Indigo flights getting cancelled?
An airline spokesperson said that “operational” disruptions are causing the delays and cancellations of hundreds of flights every day.
Notably, the implementation of updated Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) that came into effect in November is being attributed as a key reason, people aware of the matter told HT earlier.
The airline has been heavily affected by a pilot shortage since the new FDTL rules came into force. These rules are meant to reduce fatigue and give pilots more time to rest, they added.
The norms include a weekly rest period of 48 hours, a longer definition of night hours and a limit of two night landings instead of the earlier six.
The FDTL rules were issued by the DGCA and are the aviation watchdog’s framework to regulate flight crew members’ hours.
In a statement on Wednesday, IndiGo said calibrated adjustments will remain in place for the next 48 hours and will normalise operations and progressively recover punctuality across the network.
