The country’s largest airline IndiGo has been hit with flight disruptions over the past few days due to a combination of factors—primarily crew shortage being faced by the carrier following the implementation of new crew rest and duty norms, it is learnt. Additionally, some technology-related issues and congestion at airports has added to the cascading delays, leading to flight delays and a number cancellations as well. The scale of disruption turned worse on Tuesday and Wednesday with widespread delays and dozens of cancellations across the IndiGo network.
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The airline acknowledged being impacted by flight delays and cancellations in recent days, saying that they were due to various reasons including “technology issues, airport congestion, and operational requirements”. It did not elaborate on the operational requirements-related issues. Numerous passengers, hit by the flight disruptions, took to social media to express their frustration at the delays and cancellations.
“Our teams are working diligently to ensure that operations normalise as soon as possible. Furthermore, we are offering alternate flight options or refunds to affected customers, as applicable. We regret the inconvenience caused to our valued customers due to these disruptions,” an IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement.
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The delays are evident from the airline’s on-time performance (OTP) data—merely 35 per cent of the airlines operated on time on Tuesday, while the figure was around 50 per cent on Monday, as per the Ministry of Civil Aviation. IndiGo’s 35 per cent OTP for Tuesday compares to Air India’s 67.2 per cent, Air India Express’s 79.5 per cent, Akasa Air’s 73.2 per cent, and SpiceJet’s 82.5 per cent. To be sure, none of the other airlines match IndiGo in the scale of operations, with the carrier having a dominant domestic market share of over 60 per cent. With its fleet of over 400 aircraft, the airline operates over 2,300 flights a day, connecting over 90 domestic and 45 international destinations.
A narrow-body aircraft like the Airbus A320—which forms the bulk of IndiGo’s fleet—usually operates multiple flights a day. This means that delays and cancellations can quickly cascade. The situation becomes worse and more complicated if flight crews reach their duty hour caps, in which case, the airline has to scramble to find a replacement crew to operate the flight.
The new flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms, under which the weekly rest period for pilots has been increased to 48 hours and night landings have been limited to two from six earlier, are learnt to have impacted IndiGo’s crew rostering. The new norms have also extended the night hours, which has also imposed additional constraints on operations. While the new norms had been opposed by IndiGo and other Indian airlines, they were implemented following a direction from the Delhi High Court. The new norms were implemented in two phases—in July and November. The nearly 67 per cent cut in permitted night landings for the flight crew has hit IndiGo particularly hard, sources indicated.
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