IndiGo crisis: Delhi HC to hear urgent petition today as airline crawls back | Top points
IndiGo has been facing significant disruptions to its services, having cancelled hundreds of flights since December 2.
The IndiGo cancellation crisis is echoing in every corner of the country, including the Supreme Court and the Delhi high court. While the top court termed the chaos “a serious matter”, the high court agreed to hear one of the pleas against the carrier on December 10.
IndiGo has been facing significant disruptions to its services, having cancelled hundreds of flights since December 2. While the Gurugram-based airline has given a multitude of reasons, aviation insiders believe it is mostly due to regulatory changes in pilots' flight duty and regulations. IndiGo is currently facing backlash from both the central government and passengers due to the chaos surrounding cancellations.
The Supreme Court, however, stopped short of intervening in the crisis.
Delhi high court to hear IndiGo crisis plea on December 10| Top points
- A petition seeking directions to the Centre to provide support and refunds to affected passengers was mentioned in the Delhi High Court. A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela listed the matter for hearing on December 10, news agency PTI reported.
- Before the hearing, civil aviation secretary Samir Kumar Sinha stated that the government had actively worked to address passengers' concerns in the wake of the recent IndiGo operational crisis, and 100 per cent refunds for PNR cancellations had apparently been completed. " It was a major concern, and in fact, we took due notice, and we issued an order, and also we coordinated with IndiGo, and I think all 100% refunds have already been completed," he told ANI.
- The aviation secretary also stated that passengers will receive their baggage within the next 24 hours. “That is a major concern of the passengers. I had come to see the baggage operation here. We just saw that 90 per cent of the baggage has already arrived. The airlines have been sending baggage to their respective passengers' addresses. I feel that within the next 24 hours or so, the luggage will be there at the passenger's given address,” he said in the interview.
- The civil aviation ministry noted that IndiGo has not demonstrated an ability to operate its winter and summer schedules efficiently, and thus, directed the airline to reduce its operations by 10 per cent across sectors. Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said that the ministry considered it necessary to curtail IndiGo's overall routes, as this would help stabilise the airline's operations and lead to reduced cancellations. The airline has been asked to submit a revised schedule by 5 PM on December 10.
- Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said on Monday that lakhs of people are stranded at the airports, even though the apex court refused to accord an urgent hearing to a plea seeking judicial intervention into the matter, saying the Centre had taken steps to address it.
- IndiGo reportedly cancelled more than 400 flights on Tuesday, with Delhi and Bengaluru being the cities worst-affected by the disruptions. From Delhi alone, 152 flights were cancelled, 121 from Bengaluru, 58 flights from Hyderabad, 41 from Chennai, 16 from Ahmedabad, 4 flights from Thiruvananthapuram, and 3 from Mumbai. Since the beginning of the mass cancellations, nearly 5,000 flights have been cancelled.
