MUMBAI: A day after aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation grounded 11 aircraft of budget carriers IndiGo and GoAir due to faulty engines, the two airlines cancelled 65 flights, causing severe inconvenience to hundreds of fliers across the country.
At present, a total of 14 A 320 aircraft with faulty Pratt and Witney engines stand grounded. While 11 aircraft were grounded on Tuesday, three were grounded earlier. Of these, eight belong to IndiGo and three to GoAir. Sources in the aviation sector said operations of the two carriers are likely to be affected for another four-five days.
While IndiGo cancelled flights from 18 cities that include 17 flights from Delhi, five each from Chennai and Hyderabad, three from Mumbai and two from Trivandrum etc, GoAir has cancelled flights from eight cities across the country but not any flight between Delhi and Mumbai.
IndiGo said they have cancelled flights on routes where they have multiple operations, so they can adjust passengers on other own aircraft.
“While we understand that this may cause inconvenience to some of our passengers, we are proactively re-accommodating all our affected passengers on other flights,” IndiGo said in a statement. Passengers have been given the option to either choose another flight at no additional cost or cancel their booking and get a full refund without any cancellation charges.
GoAir said it was working round-the-clock to alleviate the inconvenience caused to passengers. “Flight schedules are being altered to accommodate those affected. Alternate arrangements are made or offered to minimise impact and inconvenience,” GoAir said in a statement.