Mohali/Chandigarh: A routine evening departure from Chandigarh to Pune turned into an overnight ordeal for scores of IndiGo passengers, as the airline’s deepening operational crisis left travellers stranded inside the Mohali terminal until dawn on Friday.
The flight, slated to leave at 9:15 pm on Thursday, finally lifted off nearly 10 hours later, at 7:50 am on Friday—an episode emblematic of the widespread disruption IndiGo has been struggling to contain for days.
Long night, little clarity
Travellers described a night marked by repeated announcements, rolling delays and minimal communication from staff. Several passengers said the departure time kept shifting every couple of hours, with explanations that appeared inconsistent or vague.
“We watched the board change again and again—11:45 pm, then after midnight, then past 1 am,” one traveller said. “By 4 am, it became clear the incoming Pune flight hadn’t even arrived because of congestion there. We felt completely misled.”
When boarding finally began around 7:15 am, takeoff was held up once more—this time because a checked-in passenger failed to show up, forcing ground staff to locate and remove the missing traveller’s baggage.
Nationwide disruptions worsen
The chaos in Mohali reflects the pressure on IndiGo nationwide. The carrier—responsible for more than half of India’s domestic air traffic—cancelled over 550 flights on Thursday, the third consecutive day of heavy disruptions. Friday brought little relief for passengers at Chandigarh airport, where cancellations and multi-hour delays persisted.
IndiGo operates roughly 2,300 flights daily. Its punctuality has plunged dramatically this week, slipping from 35% on Tuesday to below 20% the next day.
The airline acknowledged that its schedules have been significantly reshaped for the next several days as it tries to stabilise operations.
Government intervenes
With cancellations rippling across major cities, senior officials from the Civil Aviation Ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation held meetings with IndiGo’s top management on Thursday. CEO Pieter Elbers informed employees that regaining normalcy “will not be achieved overnight,” signalling that delays could continue into next week.
Major airports feel the strain
Cancellations reported across large hubs illustrate the scale of the breakdown:
- Mumbai: 118
- Bengaluru: 100
- Hyderabad: 75
- Kolkata: 35
- Chennai: 26
- Goa: 11
Additional cancellations were reported across several tier-2 airports as network issues cascaded across the system.
How the crisis started
IndiGo admitted that it misjudged its staffing requirements after new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules—aimed at improving fatigue management—took effect on November 1 under a court mandate. The revised norms significantly altered crew scheduling, especially for night operations.
The airline said that once winter fog, airfield congestion and technical snags were factored in, the crew shortages compounded rapidly, creating a domino effect of delays and cancellations.
To ease the crunch, authorities have temporarily relaxed two key provisions:
- The definition of “night duty” has been reverted to midnight to 5 am instead of midnight to 6 am.
- The limit of two night landings per pilot has been suspended for now.
Officials expect these measures to improve crew availability and help the airline gradually rebuild its schedule.
Passengers still in limbo
For travellers in Chandigarh, however, the temporary fixes came too late.
“Not a single helpline number worked,” another exhausted passenger said. “We felt abandoned the whole night.”
With IndiGo’s recovery expected to take several days, flyers across the country may continue to face long waits, last-minute alerts and unpredictable travel plans—leaving many hoping that Thursday night’s chaotic scenes at Mohali are not repeated.
