Crowds at Indian airports eased on Saturday but hundreds of passengers were still gathering outside Bengaluru and Mumbai
airports as 385 IndiGo flights were canceled, in the fifth day of a crisis that has hit the country’s biggest airline.
Air travel across India has been in turmoil this week after IndiGo canceled thousands of flights, prompting the
government to announce special relief for the carrier and operate some trains to help clear the backlog.
It is the biggest crisis ever for the 20-year-old airline, which long prided itself on on-time performance and lured
passengers with low-cost fares.
IndiGo has admitted it failed to plan properly ahead of a November 1 deadline to implement stricter rules for pilots
around night flying and weekly rest, which ultimately led to problems around roster planning this week.
On Friday, more than 1,000 IndiGo flights were canceled. The Delhi airport in a post on X said flight operations are
steadily resuming, but some IndiGo flights continue to be affected.
Airport sources told Reuters 124 IndiGo flights in Bengaluru have been canceled on Saturday, 109 in Mumbai, 86 in New
Delhi and 66 in Hyderabad.
India’s government has made special relaxations to the rules for the airline, and IndiGo has said it could return to
normalcy between December 10-15.
Still, hundreds of passengers gathered outside Bengaluru and Mumbai airports on Saturday, with some clueless about their
cancellations, according to Reuters photographers present at the scene.
Satish Konde had to catch a connecting flight to go to the city of Nagpur from Mumbai, and was checked in, but was told
“I am waiting for my luggage to be returned,” he told Reuters at the airport.
Other major Indian airlines, including Air India and Akasa, have not had to cancel flights due to the new rules.