IndiGo cancels over 300 flights at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, other airports amid crew shortage following new pilot duty norms

The country's largest airline IndiGo on Thursday cancelled more than 300 domestic and international flights at Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and other airports, as operational disruptions continued for the third day, impacting the travel plans of hundreds of passengers.

A significant number of IndiGo flights were also delayed at various airports, as crew woes and adjustments to schedules weighed on the operations of the airline, which is known for its punctuality.

A day after its On Time Performance (OTP) or punctuality plunged to 19.7 per cent, the airline continued to grapple with flight disruptions, and sources said over 300 flights had been cancelled till afternoon.

At least 95 flights were cancelled at the Delhi airport, 85 at the Mumbai airport, 70 at Hyderabad and 50 at Bangalore. Besides, there were cancellations at other airports, sources said.

Based on data from six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — IndiGo's OTP nosedived to 19.7 per cent on Wednesday, down from 35 per cent on December 2.

The sources said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is meeting the airline officials to discuss the situation.

In late afternoon trade, IndiGo shares dropped over 3 per cent to Rs 5,417.90 apiece on the BSE.

On Wednesday, the DGCA said it was investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and that it had asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

The sources said the airline has been facing an acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms.

While IndiGo has not issued any statement on Thursday, the airline, which operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily, on Wednesday said a "multitude of unforeseen operational challenges" have significantly disrupted its operations across the network for the past two days, and apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience.

The airline is adjusting its schedules in a calibrated manner to normalise the situation.

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

Further, the pilots' grouping has urged DGCA not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the new FDTL norms.

Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA) has said the operational disruptions at IndiGo due to crew issues point to a failure of proactive resource planning by dominant airlines, and claimed that there could also be an effort to pressurise regulator DGCA to dilute the new flight duty time limitation norms.

For the disruptions, IndiGo, in a statement on Wednesday, flagged various challenges including "minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (FDTL) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated".