(Image source from: Indiatoday.in)

On Monday, over 450 IndiGo flights were canceled at different airports as the largest airline in the country still had not returned to normal operations. This disturbance continued for the seventh consecutive day, creating an air travel problem that India has never faced before. At the Delhi airport, there were 134 canceled IndiGo flights, which included 75 that were supposed to depart and 59 that were expected to arrive. The Bengaluru airport saw 127 flights canceled. Chennai had 71 cancellations, Hyderabad reported 77, Jammu had 20, and Srinagar saw 16 cancellations. In Ahmedabad, 36 flights were grounded, and there were seven cancellations in Vizag. Other major airports like Mumbai and Kolkata also dealt with significant issues. Last Sunday, IndiGo canceled over 650 flights, which was an improvement from more than 1,000 cancellations just two days prior. Officials stated that more than Rs 610 crore worth of ticket refunds have been issued to passengers who were affected.

According to the airline, the trouble mainly started due to not having enough cockpit crew after the full implementation of government rules regarding pilot rest, known as Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL). This situation led to widespread flight cancellations, creating chaos at major airports in the country. The government intervened, paused the rule, and the airline aims to get back to normal operations by December 10. On Sunday, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gave IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras an extension to respond to the show-cause notices regarding the flight disruptions. They were granted an extra 24 hours, until 6 pm on Monday, to submit their replies.

So far, the Civil Aviation Ministry has taken various actions, including setting limits on airfares and instructing IndiGo to speed up its ticket refund process. A thorough investigation into the crisis has been initiated, with the minister, Ram Mohan Naidu, stating that the airline is responsible and that the directive for pilot duty was given a year ago. IndiGo is looking into what caused the problem, which they say arose from several factors. The ministry also reported that IndiGo has processed Rs 610 crore in refunds and handed over 3,000 pieces of luggage to passengers across the nation as of Saturday. Earlier, the government had given the airline a deadline to refund the affected passengers.