IndiGo canceled over 400 flights across India on Saturday, causing massive chaos at airports. The crisis caused by shortage of pilots and lapse in operational planning has been going on for several days. The government has claimed to improve the situation.
New Delhi. Saturday went down in history as one of the biggest chaos in India’s air travel history when IndiGo canceled more than 400 domestic flights in a single day. This sudden massive disruption in the country’s largest airline network increased the troubles of millions of passengers. Long queues at airports, crowds of angry passengers, missed connections, and waiting for hours without information—the chaos was the same everywhere. IndiGo issued a “we are sorry” message on social media, but the question of how the crisis spread on such a large scale is still troubling passengers.
Why did the country’s largest airline network come to a standstill?
According to sources, this operational crisis of IndiGo kept increasing silently in the last few days. The airline operates 2,300 flights daily and has a fleet of 400+ aircraft. The effect of shortage of pilots spread like a chain reaction in such a large network. It is being said that shortage of pilots, planning mistakes, and sudden increase in operational pressure brought the entire system to a standstill within a few hours. According to reports, this crisis was not under control from the very first day, but the airline was not able to give correct information to the passengers in time.
Which airports were most affected?
Almost all the major airports of the country were hit by this crisis.
Most flights canceled:
- Bengaluru: 124 flights
- Mumbai: 109 flights
- Delhi: 106 flights
Other than this,
- Hyderabad: 69
- Pune: 42
- Chennai: 30
- Ahmedabad/AMD: 19
The crowd and anger of passengers increased everywhere. Many people said that they neither received any message, nor email, nor any on-ground information.
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Did Indigo apologize? What is the process for refund and new flight?
IndiGo issued an apology on Friday night and said, “We know the last few days have been very difficult for all of you… We are trying to normalize operations as quickly as possible.” The company also said that refunds for all canceled flights will automatically go back to the passengers’ accounts. The CEO also said in the statement that operations could return to normal between December 10 and 15, but the airline warned that due to the large scale, a full recovery may take time.
Is the situation under control now? Civil Aviation Minister’s big statement
Union Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the situation was “on the verge of resolution”. According to him, the backlog at metro airports like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai has reduced significantly. The situation at other airports will also improve by tonight. Indigo will resume normal operations in limited capacity from tomorrow. It will take a few days for full capacity to be restored, but passengers can start getting relief from today.
Was it a system failure or a communication breakdown?
Experts say that this crisis was not just operational, but also a communication failure. With little planning, information not reaching passengers in a timely manner, small operational issues turned into a major national crisis.