From IndiGo to IndiGone?

India’s largest domestic carrier faces government and passenger wrath

- Debarshi Dasgupta India Correspondent and Rohini Mohan India Correspondent

Mr Veerabhadraya Gurupadayya waiting for his missing luggage at IndiGo's counter at Delhi's Terminal 1 on Dec 6. ST PHOTO: DEBARSHI DASGUPTA IndiGo passengers getting some rest after their flight was cancelled at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on Dec 5. PHOTO: REUTERS

(DEBARSHI DASGUPTA REUTERS)

Mr Veerabhadraya Gurupadayya’s first-ever flight experience was supposed to take him to his son’s wedding on the evening of Dec 5. Instead, the 75-year-old went hungry for the better part of the day, barely making the wedding past midnight while losing the bags that contained the groom’s outfit in the ensuing chaos.

The chilli farmer from Hubbali in the southern Indian state of Karnataka was one of the thousands of passengers stranded in airports across the country in the past week as India’s largest domestic airline IndiGo cancelled more than 2,000 flights, facing government action for failing to create a pilot roster in compliance with new aviation rest rules.

“I rushed to the wedding venue, where my son - the groom - was in borrowed clothes, half the ceremonies were finished, and they were waiting for me to arrive for the main rituals,” Mr Veerabhadraya told The Straits Times, relieved that he was able to catch at least a few moments of the celebration.

The inexplicable flight roster indiscretions at IndiGo, which accounts for six out of every 10 passengers who travel by air in India, have caused a near-total breakdown of its services since Dec 1.

The company’s statements attributed the chaos to bad weather, congestion, technical glitches, and to its own miscalculations of the pilots required to operate its flights according to India’s new pilot safety rules that mandate a 48-hour rest period to recover from cumulative fatigue rather than 36 hours.