Highlights
- At least 175 IndiGo flights cancelled on Thursday, affecting thousands of passengers across major airports.
- Airline failed to adequately plan rosters following new government safety rules implemented on November (1).
- IndiGo shares have fallen 6 percent this week as chaos continues at Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and other hubs.
At least 175 IndiGo flights were cancelled by early Thursday, leaving passengers stranded at major airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru. The carrier had cancelled at least 150 flights the previous day.
The disruption has battered IndiGo's share price, which fell 3.4 per cent on Thursday and is now down 6 percent for the week. The airline, which commands 60 per cent of India's aviation market and has built its reputation on punctuality, acknowledged that stricter flight duty time limits have contributed to the cancellations.
Regulatory pressure mounts
The Federation of Indian Pilots stated that IndiGo failed to make timely roster adjustments following new safety rules that took effect on November (1). The regulations increased mandatory weekly rest for pilots by 12 hours to 48 hours and reduced permitted night-time landings from six to two per week.
Notably, other carriers including Air India, SpiceJet and Akasa Air have not experienced similar disruptions. India's civil aviation regulator planned to meet IndiGo's senior management on Thursday to seek details about the crisis and potential recovery plans, according to a government source.
At airports, frustrated passengers faced lengthy queues in crowded terminals. Ram Shankar Yadav, travelling to his younger brother's wedding celebrations, told Reuters his flight had been delayed six hours. "We don't have enough chairs. People are taking newspapers to sit on the floor," Yadav said by telephone from Pune airport.
"People are angry. There's nobody to manage; their helplines are not working, he added.
The crisis represents a major setback for the two-decade-old airline, which operates over 2,000 daily flights with a fleet of more than 400 aircraft and generated $9 bn in revenue last business year.
