IndiGo cancels over 550 flights on Thursday

Mumbai/New Delhi, Dec 04: The country's largest airline IndiGo on Thursday cancelled more than 550 domestic and international flights, and services were delayed at various airports as operational disruptions continued for the third straight day, impacting travel plans of hundreds of passengers.

On a day when the civil aviation ministry and watchdog DGCA held a meeting with senior IndiGo officials to take stock of the situation as well as the mitigation plans, the airline's CEO, Pieter Elbers, told the staff that normalising operations and bringing back punctuality will not be an "easy target".

The airline, which generally operates around 2,300 flights daily and presents its punctuality as a hallmark, recorded an on time performance of 19.7 per cent on Wednesday, a steep fall from 35 per cent reported on Tuesday.

Grappling with significant flight disruptions due to a multitude of factors, including cabin crew woes and technology issues, the airline has adjusted its schedules which means that pre-planned service cancellations are being carried out as part of normalising operations.

Sources told PTI that more than 550 flights were cancelled at different airports, including 172 flights at the Delhi airport, on Thursday.

There were at least 118 flight cancellations at the Mumbai airport, 100 at Bangalore, 75 at Hyderabad, 35 at Kolkata, 26 at Chennai, and 11 at Goa. Flight cancellations were reported at other airports also.

"IndiGo has been experiencing a sharp rise in cancellations, reaching approximately 170-200 flights per day, which is substantially higher than normal," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a statement.