Indigo airline’s operational crisis deepened on Friday with the airline canceling all flights from several airports. This crisis will continue for a few more days. In such a situation, lakhs of passengers will have to face problems. The airline has admitted that they could not foresee the crew’s problem and made a mistake at the planning stage. Now the airline has requested the government to relax the rules till February 10.
All flights taking off from Delhi airport canceled
All flights taking off from Delhi airport have been cancelled. Earlier on Friday, till around 11 am, more than 400 Indigo flights had been canceled across the country. Apart from these, a large number of flights have also been delayed. Of these, more than 200 flights were canceled at Delhi airport. Also, more than 100 flights were canceled at Bangalore airport. More than 90 flights have also been canceled at Hyderabad Airport. Apart from these, many flights have also been delayed at other airports in the country.
Indigo has also canceled all flights from Chennai airport till 6 pm on Friday. Cancellation of flights has had a negative impact on IndiGo’s on-time performance and on Thursday it was only 8.5 percent at six major airports of the country. Before the operational problems started, IndiGo’s on-time performance in October was around 85 percent. From this it can be clearly understood how badly IndiGo’s operations have been affected.
Indigo said- the problem will continue for next two-three days
The airline said the problem of crew shortage became more serious during the winter season when there is fog and crowding. Indigo has said that efforts to stabilize the schedule may continue for the next two-three more days. Due to which more flights will be cancelled. However, from December 8, the airline will reduce its flight operations, which may reduce the problem of flight cancellations.
Indigo demanded relaxation in rules
The airline has demanded from the government that the rules for rest and night duty of pilots should be relaxed till February 10. DGCA has confirmed this demand of the airline. DGCA issued a statement saying that in order to reduce passenger hassles and maintain safety standards, IndiGo has sought some relaxation in FDTL rules. IndiGo has assured DGCA that adequate steps are being taken to normalize the situation. In view of the situation, the night duty, which was being changed from midnight to 5 am to midnight to 6 am, has been withdrawn for the time being. Apart from this, the limit of two landings at night has also been stopped for some time.
Also read- Indigo: ‘There will be problems in flight operations for a few more days’, Indigo told DGCA; hundreds of flights canceled
Civil Aviation Minister held review meeting with officials
Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu held a review meeting last night with top officials of his ministry, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI) and IndiGo and took stock of the situation. The government said it was closely monitoring the airline network after a sharp increase in flight cancellations across the country since late November.
DGCA issued strict instructions
Indigo airline is canceling 170 to 200 flights every day, which is much more than normal. In the last two days, the airline has canceled about 700 flights. In view of the situation, DGCA has issued several instructions to IndiGo, including hiring of crew, making a plan to stabilize operations, reporting every two weeks on improvements in crew availability and scheduling, and giving details of all relaxations in FDTL norms required to normalize operations. DGCA said it will continue real-time monitoring of IndiGo’s network performance and passenger-handling system in the coming days. DGCA has also directed to increase the number of passenger handling staff to handle the crowd at the airports. So that support services can be strengthened at all affected terminals.
other videos
