Delhi Airport cancels all IndiGo domestic flights till midnight

IndiGo Crisis Latest News

IndiGo on Friday cancelled all its departure flights from Delhi's IGI airport till midnight amid operational disruptions, airport officials told PTI.

The flight disruptions have largely been owed to new flight duty norms that took effect on November 1 and IndiGo's struggles with implementing the second phase of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

Passengers at IGI Airport were informed of the blanket shutdown as the situation worsened through the day. IndiGo alone operates around 235 departures from Delhi on a normal day, meaning hundreds of travellers are now left with no option but to wait, rebook or look for alternate arrangements.

Meanwhile, sources told Moneycontrol that 102 flights - 52 arrivals and 50 departures - were cancelled at the airport on December 5. The previous day, India's biggest airline cancelled 99 flights at the airport, 62 flights on December 3 and 20 flights on December 2, as IndiGo didn't plan its roster enough in keeping with new government regulations that limit flying hours for pilots.

There are reports that all IndiGo departures from Chennai have also been cancelled for today.

Reports have said that IndiGo has told aviation regulator DGCA that its operations would be fully restored by February 10, and sought relief from some provisions that limit pilot duty hours at night.