Due To Lack Of Pilots, IndiGo Cancels 30 Flights On Tuesday, After 32 On Monday

Budget carrier IndiGo’s operations continued to be hampered as it cancelled 30 flights due to a shortage of pilots on Tuesday, February 12, from across stations. Most of the flights have been cancelled from Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. Passengers, as a result, allegedly had no option but to buy last-minute high fares for the flights.

Huge number of flights cancelled

Even on Monday, February 11, 32 flights were pulled out by the airline headquartered at Gurugram. Besides, there has not yet been any indication of a probe into the cancellation of such a huge number of flights by the aviation regulator, reported The Times Of India.

Among others, eight flights are not operating from Kolkata, five have been cancelled from Hyderabad, four from Bengaluru and another four from Chennai. Allegedly, passengers were forced by IndiGo to buy last-minute high fares. They were also offered alternate flights with a very long transit time, with one-stop connectivity.

However, when The Logical Indian contacted IndiGo, they sent a Press Statement which read, “IndiGo is slightly adjusting its flight schedule in the coming days by approximately 30 flights per day. This is in order to stabilize the network and operations impacted due to various ongoing Notams and predicted bad weather in the coming days. In order to avoid inconvenience, these adjustments are being made in advance enabling adequate notice to passengers. They are being accommodated close to their original flight schedule. These adjustments amount to 1 to 2% of the originally planned number of flights.”

For months now, IndiGo has been on the news for all the wrong reasons. On January 21, 2019, soon after it took off from Lucknow airport, a P&W-powered A320neo aircraft of IndiGo was grounded after “high vibration” was observed in its engine by the pilot. As a precaution, the flight 6E-451, which was heading to Jaipur, was brought back to Lucknow. Several other similar incidents have been reported.

The Logical Indian take

IndiGo is the largest airline of India and flies four out of every ten Indian people, with a fleet size of 209 planes, operating around 1,300 daily flights. It covers 16 international destinations and 52 domestic ones. Passengers hardly pay any less for IndiGo flights than they pay for other airlines, and the only thing they expect in return is safety and comfort. No major accidents have happened yet, but if the system is not taken care of immediately, passengers’ lives will not be free of risk.

Besides the life risk, cancellation of such large number of flights disrupts the normal routine of passengers. Some may have important work, some may have ill relatives waiting in another city or some may even be ill themselves, perhaps travelling for immediate treatment. The cancellation of these flights may impact the lives of people more severely than the airlines can imagine. It is high time IndiGo looked into the matter and took appropriate steps.

Also Read: Lucknow-Jaipur IndiGo Flight Returned To Lucknow After “High Vibrations” Mid-Air