IndiGo Flight Crisis Deepens: Over 4,500 Cancellations in a Week as Disruptions Continue Nationwide

IndiGo, the topmost domestic airline in India, is experiencing the biggest operational chaos in its history and has already scrapped more than 4,500 flights in 7 days alone. The scenario is still very tumultuous at the major airports, with long queues, hold-ups, and packed terminals, despite the intervention of the government, which has implemented passenger relief measures.

The DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) has served a show-cause notice to the CEO of IndiGo because of the airline's inability to prepare itself even a little for the new crew scheduling rules. This [airline's] problem with staffing has resulted in the cancellation of flights across the metros.

The disruption count went up very quickly during the week:

• Tuesday: 150+ flights cancelled

• Wednesday: Nearly 200 cancellations; on-time performance drops to 19.7%

• Thursday: 300+ cancellations affecting international sectors

• Friday: Around 1,600, the worst single-day collapse

• Saturday: Nearly 850 flights cancelled

• Sunday: Around 650 cancellations

• Monday: Over 300 flights cancelled across Delhi, Chennai and Bengaluru

Key airports, which include Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Kolkata are still facing severe problems. The situation on Monday was as follows:

• Bengaluru: 65 arrivals and 62 departures cancelled

• Delhi: 134 flights cancelled

• Chennai: 77 flights cancelled

The plight of the passengers persists as they are still the victims of many inconveniences. In Terminal 1 of the airport in Delhi, heaps of unclaimed bags were taking up the space of arrivals and making the travelers sift through the rows of their luggage while attempting to get their flights rebooked.

IndiGo has not given any announcement about when its operations will be back to normal.