Thousands of passengers on Indiana airline IndiGo faced flight cancellations and delays for a third day Thursday, as the airline grapples with new government rules that affect its employees’ work hours.
At least 175 IndiGo flights were canceled by Thursday morning, with 150 more canceled on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported. Passengers were left stranded at major Indian airports including New Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru.
The share of this airline in domestic flights in India is 60%.
What do we know about the new flight rules?
The Indian government announced new rules for flights and staff last year that came into effect in early November.
they include:
- Increasing mandatory rest per week for pilots from 36 hours to 48 hours
- Pilots allowed only two night landings per week, less than six
- Strict limits on cumulative duty hours
It is not clear why the new rules started affecting IndiGo only this week. Other Indian airlines, including Air India and SpiceJet, did not have to cancel flights.
What did Indigo say on the flight disruption?
The airline, which has long prided itself on its punctuality, acknowledged the delay in a statement shared by several Indian news websites.
IndiGo said, “Several unexpected operational challenges including minor technical glitches, schedule changes related to winter season, adverse weather conditions, increasing congestion in the aviation system and implementation of updated crew rostering rules (flight duty time limitations) had a negative impact on our operations, which was not possible to anticipate.”
It said it had introduced “calibrated adjustments” to address the delay, suggesting the problem could last for the next 48 hours.
India’s aviation watchdog, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has scheduled a meeting with IndiGo officials on Thursday to further inspect the matter.
The two-decade-old airline operates over 2,000 flights daily using a fleet of over 400 aircraft.
IndiGo employees often proudly announce “IndiGo Standard Time” when boarding is completed ahead of schedule, a play on “Indian Standard Time”.
Edited by: Elisabeth Schumacher