NEW DELHI: Over 10 lakh flyers were affected after IndiGo cancelled nearly 7,000 flights over the past three months.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said the airline cancelled 6,936 flights, impacting 10,81,680 passengers.
He provided the information in written replies to two separate questions in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
On IndiGo’s December disruptions that led to large-scale cancellations, Mohol said inadequate regulatory preparedness, software system flaws, and gaps in operational control were among the key reasons.
He added that adverse weather conditions also contributed to the cancellations.
He also said more than 2,645 posts remain vacant across key aviation bodies, including the Airport Authority of India (AAI), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA).
In his reply on vacancies in different government agencies, he said the DGCA had 787 vacant posts, the AAI had 1,667, the BCAS had 180, and the AERA had 11.
The AAI vacancies involved direct recruitment (executive) posts.
"To address these, AAI has expedited recruitment, redeployed staff at operationally sensitive airports, created additional Air Traffic Controller posts in line with expanding airspace requirements," his response said.
The vacancies in DGCA were largely due to the creation of 441 additional posts as part of the restructuring of the regulator undertaken during 2022-2024, Mohol added.
“BCAS and AERA are deputation-based organisations, vacancy circulars are issued periodically to fill posts in accordance with the prescribed norms," he said.