IndiGo cancels more than 250 flights from Delhi and Bengaluru as disruptions continue for seventh day
Mumbai: IndiGo cancelled more than 250 flights from Delhi and Bengaluru on Monday as the airline’s operational crisis stretched into its seventh consecutive day, according to people aware of the situation.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has given IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and chief operating officer Isidro Porqueras time until Monday 6 pm to respond to its show cause notice. The extension was granted on Sunday evening. The regulator had issued notices on Saturday, saying the widespread disruptions indicated serious gaps in planning, oversight and resource management, and had initially asked for a response within 24 hours.
Sources said IndiGo cancelled 251 flights on Monday. Of these, 134 flights were disrupted at the Delhi airport, including 75 departures and 59 arrivals. At the Bengaluru airport, 117 services were cancelled, comprising 65 arrivals and 62 departures.
The airline has been under pressure from the government and frustrated passengers for cancelling hundreds of flights nationwide since December 2. IndiGo has blamed the chaos on regulatory changes in pilot flight duty and rest rules, which have left thousands of passengers stranded across airports.
For the first three days of the crisis, the airline did not publicly acknowledge the scale of the cancellations. It was only on Friday, after the number of cancelled flights touched 1,600 in a single day — the highest ever in Indian aviation — that CEO Elbers issued a video message apologising to passengers. In the message, he admitted to mass cancellations but did not disclose that the count had reached 1,600 that day.
The new flight duty time limitation norms, which apply to all domestic airlines, were rolled out in two stages on July 1 and November 1 this year. IndiGo has already secured temporary relaxations on the second phase of the norms, which will remain in place until February 10.
The latest FDTL rules expand the weekly rest period to 48 hours, extend the definition of night duty, and limit pilots to two night landings rather than the earlier six. These changes were initially opposed by domestic carriers, including IndiGo and Air India, but the DGCA implemented them after directions from the Delhi High Court, though with some delays and phased adjustments.
The norms were originally planned for March 2024, but airlines, including IndiGo, had asked for a gradual rollout as they needed more crew to meet the requirements.
(with inputs from agencies)
