IndiGo cancels scores of flights from Bengaluru, Hyderabad airports amid crew crunch; airline cites ‘technology issues’

IndiGo, India's largest airline, cancelled around 42 flights from Bengaluru airport on Wednesday, mainly due to crew shortages, technology issues, and airport congestion, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Scores of IndiGo flights were delayed or cancelled at several airports over the past few days, as the airline struggled to get the crew to operate its flights.

The airline also cancelled 32 flights from Mumbai airport.

An official said IndiGo cancelled 42 flights from Bengaluru due to crew shortage and 32 from Mumbai, according to the HT report.

What IndiGo says

IndiGo on Wednesday said several of its flights were delayed and some cancelled over the past few days due to technology issues, airport congestion and operational requirements.

"We have had several unavoidable flight delays and some cancellations in the past few days due to various reasons including technology issues, airport congestion, and operational requirements," the airline spokesperson said in a statement.

"Our teams are working diligently to ensure that operations normalise as soon as possible," the airline said.

The airlines are facing crew shortage following the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) implementation from 1 November.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports,” a source told news agency PTI.

FDTL limits the maximum time pilots and flight crews can work to prevent fatigue and ensure safety.

"The situation turned bad on Tuesday for the airline and the shortage turned worse on Wednesday with scores of flights cancelled and delayed from across airports in the country," the source also told PTI.

IndiGo said it is offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers, as applicable.

“We regret the inconvenience caused to our valued customers due to these disruptions. We request customers to check the latest flight status at www.goindigo.in/check-flightstatus.html before heading to the airport, to help us minimise inconvenience,” it added.

On-time performance

The Gurugram-based airline had an on-time performance of just 35% on Tuesday, according to data from the civil aviation ministry, the lowest among all Indian airlines. IndiGo's on-time performance this year has typically been higher than 80% at major Indian airports, including Delhi and Mumbai.

The disruptions follow an air-traffic-control system outage at Delhi airport that delayed hundreds of flights for several airlines last month.

Some IndiGo flights at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad were also impacted due to technology and operational issues, resulting in delays and cancellations.

Operations at RGIA remain normal, and passengers are requested to contact IndiGo’s customer service team directly for the latest updates on flight status, said RGIA Hyderabad.

Around 600 flights were delayed as of 0909 GMT on Wednesday across India's three busiest airports - Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru - with Delhi accounting for more than two-thirds of the delays, according to data from Flightradar24.

IndiGo has a domestic market share of more than 60% and operates over 2,200 flights daily and has been steadily expanding internationally.

In a social media post on X on Wednesday, Delhi Airport said some domestic airlines were experiencing "operational challenges," which could lead to delays or schedule changes.