IndiGo's slew of cancellations of flights have now hit lawmakers, Aam Admi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha said on Friday. Claiming that aviation watchdog DGCA ‘should have conducted a proper audit before implementing the FDTL rules, Chadha said that the mammoth disruptions have also hit MPs who are unable to return to their constituencies to attend their scheduled programs on the weekend.
“This is a situation that never happened before, due to which today lakhs of passengers are affected. ...IndiGo has almost 70% share of the market. If such a big airline shuts down, obviously the passengers are facing a lot of trouble..The DGCA should have conducted a proper audit before implementing the regulatory bench-strength…” ANI quoted Raghav Chadha as saying.
How did the chaos unfold?
What began as a single day of cancellations and delays – has now spiraled into a four-day saga. Throughout this week, 20-year-old domestic carrier IndiGo has had increasing number of flight cancellations and delays over the network across major airports in India.
With passengers reporting delays from 2 December, disruption in services continued today, on 5 December, with PTI reporting at least 400 flights cancelled across airports in the country.
IndiGo crisis reaches Parliament
On Friday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari raised the issue of operational disruptions and flight cancellations by IndiGo in the Upper House, attributing them to a "monopoly" in the aviation sector.
Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Tiwari urged the Civil Aviation Minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, to respond to Parliament, highlighting that several MPs may need to travel back to their hometowns over the weekend, when there is no sitting schedule.
Why the cancellations, delays?
According to Indigo – it had difficulties with roster planning in the wake of the government's crew safety regulations. IndiGo operates about 2,300 domestic and international flights daily. A source told PTI that airlines are facing crew shortage following the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) implementation from 1 November.
When would IndiGo's services be restored?
In response to a probe by the DGCA, IndiGo has assured full restoration of stable operations by 10 February. On Thursday, the budget carrier also told the DGCA that cancellations would continue for the next 2-3 days as part of schedule stabilisation efforts.
The DGCA has said that it will closely monitor airfares as IndiGo rushes to fix its scheduling problem.
On Thursday, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers also shot a letter to employees, acknowledging that the airline had ‘failed to live up to its promise’ to provide a smooth and enjoyable flying experience for its customers.
