On July 2, up to 55% of IndiGo's domestic flights were delayed because a sizeable portion of the cabin staff reportedly went to an Air India recruitment drive while purportedly taking sick leave.
The domestic budget airline IndiGo's large countrywide flight delays were strongly condemned by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on July 3. The aviation watchdog has asked IndiGo for more information.
DGCA officials told news agency ANI: “The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has taken strong cognizance against IndiGo and sought a clarification/ explanation behind the massive flight delays nationwide.”
On Saturday, IndiGo, which apparently runs 1,600 flights per day, was hampered by a crew member shortage, which led to the cancellation of 900 flights. Media reports claim that on July 3, the airline also experienced issues with its crew.
An IndiGo passenger took to social media to complain about his ordeal and wrote,“Flight not on time. No update. No place to sit at the terminal. Staff missing. Wonder what happened to #IndigoStandardTime. Seems that the clock has run out of battery.”
According to figures released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on June 22, domestic air passenger traffic increased to 1.2 crore in May 2022, an increase of 11% from the month before.
The data shows that the volume of air travel has increased slightly from the pre-pandemic level, with domestic airlines transporting 1.22 crore people in May 2019.
