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Amid significant flight disruptions, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Thursday said the airline's immediate goal is to normalise operations and bring punctuality back on track "which is not an easy target". In a message to the staff, he also admitted that the airline could not live up to the promise of providing good experience to customers. IndiGo, the country's largest airline, is grappling with significant operational disruptions in the past few days and more than 300 flights were cancelled on Thursday while scores of flights were delayed. Against this backdrop, Elbers said these past few days have been difficult for many of IndiGo's customers and colleagues. "We serve close to 380,000 customers a day and want each of them to have a good experience. We could not live up to that promise these past days and we have publicly apologised for that," he said. According to him, an accumulation of several operational challenges, including minor technology glitches, schedule changes, adverse
Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA) on Wednesday said the operational disruptions at IndiGo due to crew issues point to a failure of proactive resource planning by dominant airlines, and claimed that there could also be an effort to pressurise regulator DGCA to dilute the new flight duty time limitation norms. IndiGo on Wednesday said there have been significant operational disruptions due to a multitude of factors, including Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) issues. Sources said the airline cancelled more than 100 flights on Wednesday. "The situation concerning the recent flight cancellations across India allegedly attributed to pilot shortage due to new FDTL norms, raises significant questions about the airline's management, regulatory oversight by the DGCA, and market fairness," ALPA said in a statement. The second phase of the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms, which provides for increased rest period and a lesser number of night landings, came into eff
A chaotic situation unfolded at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here after Indigo airlines cancelled 13 flights to various destinations, including Delhi and Bangalore from here, airport sources said. The airport, however, maintained that some IndiGo flights have been impacted due to airline-related technology and operational issues, resulting in delays and cancellations. Similarly, the airline also cancelled 18 incoming flights from various destinations, the sources said. Nine flights were cancelled on Tuesday alone. Deeply unfortunate to see #Ayyappadevotees forced to protest at Hyderabad Airport after @IndiGo6E failed to address hours-long delays. Passengers deserve clarity, and responsible service. Hope the authorities take immediate action, a netizen said in a post on X tagging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Amit Shah and Ram Mohan Naidu. Social media was flooded with videos showing frustrated passengers arguing with airline staff over the ...
An Abu Dhabi-bound IndiGo flight returned to Kochi early on Saturday due to a technical snag after being airborne for over two hours, according to sources. There were more than 180 passengers and six crew members onboard the aircraft, they said. There was no immediate comment from IndiGo. The flight 6E-1403 (COK-AUH) departed from Kochi at 11.10 pm on Friday and returned to the city at around 1.44 am on Saturday due to a technical snag, the sources told PTI. They also said that the passengers were flown to Abu Dhabi in another aircraft which took off at around 3.30 am and a new set of crew operated the flight as the earlier crew had to be replaced due to flight duty time restrictions. As per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com, flight 6E1403 which had returned mid-way, was operated with an A320 neo aircraft.
As many as 5,706 flights were cancelled due to regulatory and geopolitical issues this year till June 30, accounting for around 1 per cent of the total departures during the same period, according to official data. The data, provided by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Monday, covers flights of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Akasa Air, SpiceJet and Alliance Air. There were a total of 5,706 flight cancellations due to regulatory and geopolitical issues this year till June 30. During this time, the number of flight departures stood at 5,72,079, as per the data. Mohol said airlines incur costs due to delays and cancellations, including additional fuel, crew overtime, maintenance, airport fees, and rebooking expenses. "Further, airlines are required to provide refunds or compensation to passengers for cancellations or significant delays. Passengers carried by domestic airlines during January-June 2025 registered a grow
Aviation regulator DGCA has issued a show cause notice to IndiGo for alleged lapses in simulator training conducted for nearly 1,700 pilots, according to sources. The sources on Tuesday said the show cause notice was issued after scrutiny of records and replies received from the airline last month. There was no immediate comment from IndiGo. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) found that Category C or critical airfield training for around 1,700 pilots, including pilots in command and first officers, was conducted with non-qualified simulators, the sources said. The sources also said the regulator found that the simulators on which the nearly 1,700 pilots did their training were not qualified for operations at certain airports like Calicut, Leh, and Kathmandu. Certain airports like Calicut, which has a table top runway, have additional requirements for flight operations.