Amid Indigo flight cancellation fiasco, Singapore High Commissioner left stranded at Delhi airport; shares ordeal

Simon Wong, the Singapore High Commissioner to India, who was due to attend a staff wedding in Jharkhand's Deoghar, has joined the list of passengers stranded because of IndiGo's sudden flight cancellations. This comes as all departures from Delhi have been cancelled until 23:59 on Friday.

Earlier in the day, over 500 flights were cancelled as the IndiGo chaos entered its fourth day. The worst-hit airports have been Delhi and Chennai. In Delhi, all departures stand cancelled for today, while in Tamil Nadu's capital, departures remain cancelled until 6 pm.

Over four days, flight cancellations have surpassed 1,000, leaving passengers stranded at airports and disrupting travel plans.

The Singapore envoy shared his experience on social media X, apologised to a young staff member as he would be unable to make it to his wedding, and said that he was “lost for words."

"I joined the tens of thousands of passengers stranded by #Indigo. My flight to #Deoghar has been cancelled. My sincere apologies to my young staff waiting for me to attend his #shaadi. Lost for words.🤦‍♂️ HC Wong," he wrote.

Wong shared a screenshot on social media showing a message from IndiGo informing him of the cancellation of his flight from Delhi to Deoghar due to the airline’s ongoing operational disruptions.

In the message, IndiGo apologised for the inconvenience, confirming that a full refund would be processed within 3–5 days, and requested passengers’ patience as the airline works to support all affected customers.

Latest on IndiGo crises

IndiGo has informed aviation regulator DGCA that it expects operations to be fully stabilised by February 10 next year. Over the past three days, airports across India witnessed huge crowds of IndiGo passengers as multiple flights were delayed and many more cancelled. Delhi was the worst-hit on Friday with 225 cancellations, followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru with just over 100 each, and Hyderabad recording 92 cancellations.

The disruptions have largely been attributed to the new flight duty norms that came into effect on November 1, as well as IndiGo’s challenges in implementing the second phase of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules. The updated regulations restrict pilots’ duty hours at night, while the airline’s demand for pilots-in-command continues to rise.

IndiGo has issued apologies twice, expressing regret over the ongoing delays and cancellations. According to HT, the airline has assured the DGCA that full restoration of operations is expected by February 10.