Ahmedabad : IndiGo flight delays and cancellations continued to affect passengers at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on Thursday, with 18 flights cancelled till 08:00 hours, including nine arrivals and nine departures.Airport authorities confirmed that no issues were reported in the terminal or airside operations, and that passenger facilitation measures are in place to ensure smooth handling.
Earlier this week, passengers voiced frustration over extended delays and a lack of clear communication from the airline. Khuman Singh, a passenger at the airport, shared that his flight got delayed by at least 12 hours. Speaking on the helpline service of IndiGo, he stressed that even after getting in contact with them for 2 days, they did not give any satisfactory answer.
"I had to go to Chennai and booked a round-trip flight. I did not have an issue while arriving, but while returning, my flight was scheduled for 2 AM on 9th December. I got a message that it has been rescheduled for 9 PM. Now I will have to wait for 12 hours here. I have been trying on the helpline for 2 days, but did not get a satisfactory response..."
Meanwhile, taking serious note of large-scale passenger inconvenience faced by passengers due to widespread flight cancellations and delays by IndiGo Airlines in recent days, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has constituted a dedicated Oversight Team to be stationed at the airline's corporate office in Gurugram.
In an internal order issued today, the aviation regulator stated that the move was necessitated "in view of passenger inconvenience caused due to large-scale disruptions in the operations of IndiGo Airlines at various airports across the country."
The eight-member team is headed by Capt. Vikram Sharma, Deputy Chief Flight Operations Inspector (Airlines). Other members include Capt. Kapil Mangalik, SFOI(A); Capt VP Singh, SFOI(A); Capt. Apoorva Agarwal, SFOI(A); Capt. Swati Loomba, SFOI(A) , Capt. Aman Suhag, SFOI(A); Capt. Nitya Jain, FOI(A) ,Capt NJ Singh, FOI(A).
Two members of this team will remain deployed on a daily rotational basis at IndiGo's Corporate Office at Emaar Capital Tower 2, Gurugram. They have been tasked to scrutinise critical operational parameters, including total fleet strength, average stage length, total number of pilots, network details, crew utilisation hours, deadheading, crew under training, split duties, unplanned leaves, daily flight-to-crew ratio, sectors affected due to crew shortage, and standby crew availability for both cockpit and cabin crew at each base.