Harsher winter ahead but committed to reducing disruptions, says IndiGo

IndiGo says it has stabilised operations since December 9 and is managing fog disruptions, as it ramps up capacity and plans Athens flights with its first A321XLR from January 23

IndiGo on Wednesday said that the airline has been able to effectively manage its flights during the last few days that have seen fog-related disruptions across northern India.

 

“With forecasts indicating a harsher winter ahead, we remain committed to ensuring reliability and minimising disruptions across our network to ensure least inconvenience to our customers,” India’s largest carrier said in a statement.

 

After having fully stabilised its operations since December 9, IndiGo has been steadily adding capacity, within government guidelines, it stated.

 

“We have been consistently operating 2,100-2,200 flights and carrying over one million customers every three days. We have been flying to and from all 138 operational destinations across our network while maintaining the IndiGo standards of on-time performance,” it added.

 

IndiGo cancelled over 4,200 flights between December 1 and December 9. The meltdown was triggered by the airline’s inability to manage its pilot duty roster after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) fully implemented new, stricter rest and duty regulations last month, which increased weekly rest requirements and reduced the hours pilots can fly at night.

 

Before the crisis, the airline operated a total of 2,300 flights per day -- about 2,000 domestic and about 300 international.

 

On Wednesday, the airline said it is “fully prepared” to cater to the surge in demand during this holiday season. During the last few days, hundreds of flights have been cancelled, primarily at the Delhi airport, due to fog.

 

“In recent days, the aviation sector experienced industry-wide disruptions due to dense fog, particularly across northern India. Like all airlines, we were impacted too. However, the operations were effectively managed, under the circumstances, to maintain operational stability,” it mentioned.

 

The airline said that India’s first A321XLR plane will soon be inducted in its fleet and would be used to operate Delhi-Athens and Mumbai-Athens flights starting January 23.