IndiGo cancels nearly 500 flights, including all flights from Delhi and over 100 from Mumbai

IndiGo cancels nearly 500 flights, including all flights from Delhi and over 100 from Mumbai

All 235 flights of IndiGo departing from Delhi stand cancelled till midnight of December 5 taking the tally of cancelled flights to nearly 500 by the airline thus far today. At least 104 flights out of Mumbai have also cancelled and the number could go up during the day.

Chennai airport reported 31 flights of IndiGo being cancelled including 20 departing flights. Bengaluru airport announced cancellations of 102 IndiGo flights, including 50 departing flights. Cancellations at Pune, Kolkata and other airports have also happened, said sources.

Since December 2, IndiGo is estimated to have cancelled around 1,000 flights following its struggle to meet the new norms for pilot and crew.  In November, nearly 1,300 flights were cancelled by IndiGo, as per its filing with the regulator.

IndiGo flights continued to faced long delays on Friday. As per sources,none of its flights were on time today. More than 90% of its flights were running behind schedule on December 4, which was a fall from around 80% recorded on December 3, as per data put out by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Sources further added that more than 500 flights of IndiGo were running late in the morning hours. This number would increase during day if the number of cancellations do not go up.

“Delayed flights can be cancelled. So, the number of delays can go up substantially,” said an employee of one of the metro airports of the country.

In a submission to the aviation regulator, IndiGo admitted that it misjudged crew requirements under the new norms regulating flying hours because of which it faced planning gaps, resulting in inadequate crew availability. The airline warned that cancellation are likely given that it is making adjustments to its schedules for 48 hours starting December 3.

Pieter Elbers, CEO, IndiGo wrote in an email to employees on Thursday, “Given the size, scale and complexity of our network, these disruptions grow large immediately and require interventions on multiple levels and dimensions. For that, a lot of work is being conducted right now.”

A late-night communication from IndiGo said, “The last two days have seen widespread disruption across IndiGo’s network and operations. We extend a heartfelt apology to all our customers and industry stakeholders who have been impacted by these events.”

It further claimed that its teams are working diligently and making all efforts with the support of MOCA, DGCA, BCAS, AAI and airport operators to reduce the cascading impact of these delays and restore normalcy.