IndiGo's third day of mass cancellations throws Indian airports into disarray

BENGALURU: Thousands of IndiGo passengers were stranded by flight cancellations on Thursday, a third day of chaos after India’s biggest airline did not make sufficient changes to its roster planning to accommodate new government regulations.

At least 175 IndiGo flights were cancelled as of early Thursday, leaving passengers at major airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, and Bengaluru angry and upset. On Wednesday, at least 150 flights were cancelled.

Shares of IndiGo, which commands 60% of the market and has built its reputation on punctuality, fell 3.4% on Thursday and are now down 6% for the week.

The Federation of Indian Pilots said IndiGo was not able to make timely roster adjustments and plan its schedule properly due to new rules aimed at improving safety. The rules, announced last year, went into effect on November 1. It was not immediately clear why IndiGo was suffering such a huge impact this week.

IndiGo has acknowledged that stricter flight duty time limits have been a factor in the cancellations. It did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Other airlines, including Air India, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air, have not had to cancel flights.

The new rules have increased the amount of mandatory rest per week for pilots by 12 hours to 48 hours. In addition, pilots are now only allowed to make two nighttime landings per week, down from six under the old rules.

Officials from India’s civil aviation regulator are due to meet IndiGo’s senior management later on Thursday, and will seek details about what has led to the crisis and if there is a recovery plan in place, according to a government source with direct knowledge of the plans who declined to be identified.

The regulator did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“INDIGO STANDARD TIME”

On Thursday, 73 flights were cancelled at Bengaluru airport, its spokesperson said. Around 30 were cancelled in Delhi, and 68 in Hyderabad, and 85 IndiGo flight cancellations are planned for Mumbai on Thursday, according to airport sources.

A Reuters photographer said she was stuck inside her IndiGo plane for three hours when it landed in the western city of Pune on Wednesday night, with the pilot citing operational issues and the lack of permission to dock the plane until other planes had flown.

The debacle is a major setback for a two-decade-old airline that has more than 2,000 flights daily and a fleet of more than 400 planes, mostly Airbus A320s.

The airline has prided itself on its lack of delays, and its staff will often announce “IndiGo Standard Time” when boarding has been completed before schedule, a play on “Indian Standard Time”.

It remains to be seen just how badly the rostering woes will affect IndiGo, which garnered $9 billion in revenue in the past business year.

Its biggest rival, Air India, has its own troubles, grappling with much scrutiny following a June crash that killed 260 people.

At airports, frazzled and furious passengers stood in long queues inside crowded terminals as they tried to gather details about their flights.

Ram Shankar Yadav, who was travelling with family to attend his younger brother’s wedding celebrations, told Reuters that his flight had been delayed for six hours.

“We don’t have enough chairs. People are taking newspapers to sit on the floor,” Yadav told Reuters by telephone from the airport in Pune.

“People are angry. There’s nobody to manage; their helplines are not working,” he added.