Chaos persists, IndiGo falters in restoring ops

Chaos and confusion continued across airports on Sunday, with thousands of passengers still stranded, as IndiGo struggled to fully contain an unprecedented operational crisis, which entered its sixth consecutive day.

- Aaditya Khatwani

Scenes of frustration were widespread, with passengers crowding airline counters to demand refunds, reschedule flights, and track checked-in luggage. IndiGo cancelled around 650, or nearly 28%, of its daily 2,300 flights, while rescheduling several others.

“I went to Goa and was supposed to return to Imphal via a connecting flight from Delhi. The flight was scheduled for Thursday, but I've been stuck here for three days now,” said 27-year-old Irom Kumar at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

The repeated cancellations and rescheduling have disrupted plans for many passengers, some of whom faced emergencies and needed to travel urgently.

“My uncle in Mumbai has been hospitalised. I had a flight at 5.30am [on Sunday], which was cancelled, and the replacement flight at 12.30pm was also cancelled,” said Nilesh Rajadhyaksha, 39. IndiGo, which commands roughly 60% of India’s domestic market, cancelled 118 flights in Delhi on the day.

The continuing crisis has exposed the lack of choice for passengers in India's aviation sector that is now largely a duopoly between IndiGo and Air India, with the embattled low-cost carrier being the only option in many sectors.