IndiGo: Indigo refunded 610 crores to passengers; Information from the Ministry of Civil Aviation

Even on the seventh day, the operational crisis of the country's largest airline company IndiGo continues. Once again, more than 650 flights have been canceled by IndiGo today, which is Sunday. Out of the 2300 domestic and international flights planned by the company, about 1650 flights are being operated today.

IndiGo refunds ₹610 crore to passengers

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Sunday that a total of ₹610 crore has been refunded to IndiGo passengers so far. Additionally, the company has handed over more than 3000 bags to passengers across the country.

Beginning of the crisis from Friday

Friday and Saturday: According to CEO Pieter Elbers, more than 1000 flights were canceled on Friday, and over 800 on Saturday. IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers stated that the company is gradually returning to normalcy. “We are now canceling flights in the first phase itself, so that passengers whose flights have been canceled do not come to the airport,” he clarified.

Why is the country's largest airline Indigo in big trouble?

This severe crisis arose due to changes made by the DGCA in the pilot's 'Flight Duty Time Limit' (FDTL) rules. According to the new rules, the 36-hour break given to pilots every week has been increased to 48 hours. Additionally, the number of flights operated at night has been limited to 2. Due to these rules, the number of flights operated by each pilot has significantly decreased.

Employee Shortage

IndiGo had stated that 2422 captains were required for the 'Airbus A320 fleet', but only 2357 captains were available to them. Additionally, the number of 'First Officers' was also low. IndiGo's 'Lean-Staffing' model (operating with a reduced number of staff) completely collapsed due to DGCA regulations, resulting in hundreds of flights being canceled daily.