For the past four to five days, passengers have been facing significant difficulties. Despite significant distress and outcry, 650 flights were cancelled on Sunday. The situation remained largely the same on Monday, with over 500 flights cancelled by evening from airports in Delhi, Srinagar, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Ahmedabad. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu stated in the Rajya Sabha that the IndiGo crisis was caused by problems in its crew rostering and internal planning systems, causing significant inconvenience to passengers.
He warned of strict action and assured that action would be taken that would set a precedent for the future. The difficulties began when it was decided to provide pilots with more rest time to ensure air safety, providing them with at least eight hours of rest between flights. Previously, this interval was four hours. When IndiGo pilots expressed their unavailability due to the new regulations, it was revealed that, despite reduced working hours, new pilots were not recruited.
According to a report, there was a shortage of 400 pilots to operate these flights. This shortage was not addressed before the regulations were enacted because pilot training and salaries are significant expenses. The situation now is that airports have aircraft, but pilots’ duty charts are incomplete, and they are unable to fly. Thousands of passengers suffered at every airport. Their important flights were cancelled. Many passengers’ luggage was also stranded because the cancellations were discovered only later, even though the luggage had been reserved in advance. This caused widespread chaos at airports.
It is being said that because these flights are operated by the private sector, the government is not holding those responsible for this mistake accountable, but the government has assured action. India operates 2,300 daily domestic and international flights from its airports, but domestic air services have been disrupted for the past five days. Airlines IndiGo has announced that it will restore its network by December 10th, up from its previous deadline of December 15th. IndiGo has refunded ₹610 crore, but the loss of airline credibility will take time to recover.