New Delhi: IndiGo canceled more than 400 flights across India on Friday amid pilot shortages, stranding thousands of passengers from New Delhi to Mumbai in one of the country’s worst airline disruptions.
India’s largest carrier, which accounts for two-thirds of local flights, grounded all its flights in New Delhi, 104 in Mumbai and 86 in Ahmedabad, people familiar with the matter said, asking for anonymity as they’re not authorized to speak publicly. The Indian regulator on Friday partially eased an order about pilot rest days to alleviate the shortage.
The disruptions, which began on Tuesday, have since snowballed into chaotic scenes across Indian airports, with no end in sight. Indigo’s parent saw its shares fall for a fifth day as they headed for their worst week in more than three years as the company continues to reel from the disruptions.
InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., which operates IndiGo, fell as much as 3.2% on Friday in Mumbai to reach its lowest level in nearly six months.
Friday’s disruptions came after the airline scrapped more 300 flights on Thursday and about 150 on Wednesday. The airline said earlier it planned to cut flights from Monday in a bid to reset flight operations.
IndiGo said in a statement on X that Friday will be the worst day in terms of cancelations, and that the company expects gradual improvements from Saturday. The company will waive all cancelation fees for bookings through Dec. 15 and it will arrange thousands of hotel rooms for stranded passengers, it said.
“We do deeply apologize and understand how difficult the past few days have been for many of you,” IndiGo said in the statement. “While this will not get resolved overnight, we assure you that we will do everything in our capacity to help you in the meantime and to bring our operations back to normal at the earliest.”
Operational challenges including technology glitches, winter schedule changes, adverse weather conditions and air congestion, while “updated crew rostering rules had a negative compounding impact on our operations,” IndiGo said in a statement late on Wednesday.
It’s unclear why the airline, which is one of the world’s largest by market value, has been hit so badly by scheduling problems. The new pilot rest rules were announced in January 2024, giving carriers ample time to prepare, noted the Airline Pilots’ Association of India in a Dec. 3 statement.
“The situation points to a failure of proactive resource planning” by the dominant carrier, it said.
Meanwhile, India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation notified carriers that it’s withdrawing the rule, which barred airlines from substituting weekly rest with leave, effective immediately, according to a letter dated Friday from the directorate seen by Bloomberg.
The operational meltdown, revived memories of what Southwest Airlines Co., world’s biggest budget carrier, endured when its tech systems got overwhelmed in 2023. That resulted in more than 16,000 flights being canceled at a cost of $380 million.
IndiGo, which operates 2200 flights daily, has traditionally operated on a very lean resource management strategy and the situation indicates that it has vastly under-estimated scheduling changes. Other domestic airlines including Tata Group’s Air India, the other large local carrier, has not seen this kind of disruption in its flight schedule.
The unprecedented mass cancellations is of IndiGo’s own making because it stems from pilots being overworked, said Mark D. Martin, founder of India-based aviation consultancy Martin Consulting. “This is a major crisis for IndiGo. They are going to be held accountable by the regulator and the traveling public.”
The widespread flight cuts are set to weigh on IndiGo’s earnings, with pilot costs that already comprise about half of total staff expenditure likely to rise with the new duty rules that mandate more rest hours, Morgan Stanley analysts led by Binay Singh wrote in a note. The depreciating rupee will also affect jet fuel and maintenance costs, they said.
Meanwhile, there is continued chaos at Indian airports. Chanchal Agarwal, chief investment officer at Equirus Wealth Pvt., recounted the surreal scenes she saw after her flight to Mumbai from Delhi via Akasa Air.
“The Delhi airport resembled a riot zone,” she said. “Foul language flew across the hall amid blaring chants. By the time I landed, it felt less like arriving at a capital city airport and more like stepping into a packed suburban station in Mumbai.”
This report is auto-generated from Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
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