IndiGo Flight Cancellations LIVE: Cancellations Fall Below 850 as Govt Imposes Fare Caps, Orders Refunds by Sunday.

India’s largest air carrier, IndiGo, is slowly recovering from one of the biggest operational messes that the aviation sector has encountered in the last few years. After thousands of people were left without flights for days, the number of cancellations went under the 850-mark on Saturday, however, the major airports are still facing the aftermath of the crisis.

The problem started earlier this week when the shortage of staff due to the new Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms came into force, which the government has now made suspended. Passengers are enraged as they have to deal with long queues, soaring prices, missed connections, and lost baggage, which has led to urgent intervention by the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Government Steps In: Refund Deadline, Fare Caps, and High-Level Probe.

The government has taken a hard line with the airline:

All pending passenger refunds must be cleared by 8 PM on Sunday, December 7.

Tracking and delivering of lost or separated baggage must happen within 48 hours.

Fare caps have been imposed on all the routes affected by the price hike—the fares for the Mumbai-Delhi economy seat and Delhi-Mumbai have reached ₹51,860 and ₹48,972 respectively.

A high-level inquiry has been ordered by Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu, who stated that those accountable for the disorder will “pay for it”.

The Ministry also said that the monitoring mechanisms have been improved to ensure that the priority support is provided to the elderly, medical passengers, students, and travelers whose movement is urgent.

Passengers Stranded Nationwide as IndiGo Cancels 400+ Flights.

IndiGo accounts for nearly 60% of the entire domestic aviation traffic of India. The cancellation of more than 400 flights just for Saturday at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru has left thousands of people at the airports already.

The IGI Airport in Delhi informed that the “slowly stabilised” operations are accompanied with long queues and mess since the passengers are trying to rebook their flights through the limited availability.

IndiGo Issues Statement: ‘Focused on Stabilising Schedules’.

IndiGo shared an elaborate update on Saturday reassuring the passengers that the worst might be over:

“The teams are working on making the flight schedules stable, less delay and helping the customers. The number of cancellations has today dropped below 850 and we are permanently engaged in reducing this number even further.”

The airline also warned the customers to check their flight status online before coming to the airport and also provided links that are directly for refunds and updates.

Political Reactions Intensify.

The opposition parties criticized the government with Congress saying:

“PM Modi promised easier air travel but actually created air travel that was completely stopped.”

NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule was demanding severe punishment saying thousands of passengers experienced “very high inconvenience” during the last two days.

On the other hand, industry bodies pointed out that the problem ran “deeper” in the system.

Nitin Jadhav from the Indian Association Council of Aviation claimed:

“It’s the management—not the pilots—who are at fault. DGCA is sheltering the airline. A CBI investigation is called for.”

What Has Happened So Far — Quick Recap.

On Friday more than 1,000 flights got cancelled and then over 400 more on Saturday.

Ticket prices went high up which led the government to impose price caps.

Refunds had to be cleared by Sunday night.

All the lost bags must be returned within 48 hours.

The government has cautioned that failure to comply with its order will bring about instant regulatory action.

A high-level probe has been set up.

IndiGo says it is “adding more resilience” and seeking to get back to normal.