BENGALURU: In all, 142 IndiGo flights were either delayed or cancelled at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA), as the crisis that has been continuing since Tuesday worsened on Wednesday. A majority of the disruptions were attributed to pilots and crew not showing up with the new rostering system (Flight Duty Time Limitations) coming into effect since last month.
According to the data put out by Flightradar 24, a whopping 70% of total departures were delayed, with IndiGo alone accounting for 151 discrepancies (including 42 confirmed cancellations).
A source from Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) said 42 IndiGo flights, including 22 arrivals and 20 departures from the airport had been cancelled. Flightradar 24 data also reported that one flight scheduled to land in Bengaluru was diverted.
After reports of pilots not showing up for duty surfaced online, the airline issued a statement that read, “We acknowledge that IndiGo’s operations have been significantly disrupted across the network for the past two days, and we sincerely apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused.
A multitude of unforeseen operational challenges including minor technology glitches, schedule changes linked to the winter season, adverse weather conditions, increased congestion in the aviation system and the implementation of updated crew rostering rules (Flight Duty Time Limitations) had a negative compounding impact on our operations in a way that was not feasible to be anticipated.”
The airline stated it is also refunding its customers wherever applicable, or providing them alternative flights.
Flightradar 24 data also showed that Air India Express suffered 38 disruptions on Wednesday. Three of the airline’s flights were delayed by over an hour on Tuesday after the crew declined to take off having noticed issues with the aircraft. All the three flights were brought back to the gates and checked by the maintenance crew. The flights were cleared for take off later.
Air India attributed the issues to “third-party disruption” which had been affecting multiple airlines and multiple airports. It also stated that the issue was resolved soon after. On Wednesday, four Air India flights were delayed, while one was diverted.