New Delhi, Dec 8 (UNI) IndiGo’s prolonged operational disruption entered its seventh day on Monday, with Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu telling the Rajya Sabha that the crisis was triggered by problems in the airline’s crew rostering and internal planning system.
His remarks came in the wake of an unprecedented aviation industry meltdown that has left thousands of passengers stranded across the country.
At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, luggage continued to pile up as cancellations and delays stretched into another day.
Passengers described scenes of confusion and long queues as more than 400 flights were cancelled on Monday alone.
Delhi and Bengaluru were the worst affected, each logging more than 100 cancellations.
This followed a chaotic Sunday, when around 650 flights were cancelled and several others rescheduled. Since Tuesday last week, IndiGo has cancelled over 3,000 flights, making this one of the most severe disruptions in recent Indian aviation history.
The Supreme Court on Monday, however, declined to grant an urgent hearing on petitions related to the chaos, noting that the Centre had already taken cognisance of the situation and initiated steps to address it.
Earlier, IndiGo had scrambled to comply with a government directive requiring it to refund Rs 610 crore in fares for cancelled flights by 8 pm on Sunday.
The airline however claimed that its network would stabilise by December 10.
Amid soaring airfares caused by reduced capacity, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced a temporary price cap on Saturday to protect passengers from sharp spikes in ticket prices.
Under the government’s directive, fares for routes under 500 km have been capped at Rs 7,500, those between 500 and 1,000 km at Rs 12,000, between 1,000 and 1,500 km at Rs 15,000, and for distances above 1,500 km at Rs18,000.
The move has sparked concern among travellers and operators who fear these limits may become a benchmark for pricing even after the crisis subsides.
As IndiGo works to repair its schedules and restore normal operations, the airline faces mounting pressure from passengers, regulators and the broader aviation industry.
The full impact of the rostering failure, and the scramble that followed, may take days to fully unravel, even as the country’s largest carrier attempts to regain stability.
