Chaos at RGIA: IndiGo cancels 169 flights in a day

Flight cancellations by IndiGo continued to cause severe inconvenience, with approximately 169 flights, including 84 departures and 71 arrivalscancelled at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) until Friday evening.

The widespread flight cancellations have led to chaos at RGIA, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. The disruption has persisted over the past four days, with Friday witnessing the highest number of cancellations. On Thursday, the airline cancelled a total of 74 flights. Nearly 300 flights have been cancelled over the four-day period.

Passengers at the RGIA were seen pursuing IndiGo staff, urgently enquiring about the cancellations. Many were openly arguing, questioning why the airline had scheduled flights when its operational support was clearly inadequate.

Andhra Pradesh Minister K Partha Sarathi was also among those stranded at the airport while attempting to travel to Vijayawada. Furthermore, Ayyappa devotees, including Swamys bound for Sabarimala, were visibly agitated by the cancellations. The Andhra Pradesh Minister intervened, contacting Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu by phone, and successfully ensured the Ayyappa devotees were accommodated on a flight. However, the Andhra Pradesh Minister ultimately had to leave the airport and travel to Vijayawada by road.

In a formal statement, IndiGo said: “The last two days have seen widespread disruption across IndiGo’s network and operations. We extend a heartfelt apology to all our customers and industry stakeholders who have been impacted by these events. IndiGo teams are working diligently and making all efforts with the support of MOCA, DGCA, BCAS, AAI and airport operators to reduce the cascading impact of these delays and restore normalcy. We continue to keep our customers apprised of any changes to their scheduled flights and advise them to check the latest status at https://goindigo.in/check-flight-status.html before heading to the airport. IndiGo deeply regrets the inconvenience caused and remains focussed on streamlining its operations at the earliest.”