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Passengers fume as Indigo flights face long delays, airline cites 'operational reasons'

NEW DELHI: Indigo flights across the country suffered extensive delays from Wednesday evening into the night, with the airline repeatedly citing operational reasons. While Indigo also mentioned air-traffic congestion at Mumbai and Delhi, officials at Delhi airport completely denied any such congestion. Passengers, meanwhile, alleged that the non-availability of pilots for certain flights was among the key causes. Multiple attempts to obtain an official response from Indigo yielded no result. However, the airlines official handle on X kept replying to passengers that every delay was due to operational reasons. The worst affected routes included the DelhiChandigarh sector, where flights were delayed in both directions. Deepak Dhiman, a passenger, posted, Indigo flight 6E 2195 from Chandigarh to Delhi is delayed by 6 hours. Pilot is not available to fire the engine. Passengers are forced to wait for the pilot. No one knows when this flight will take off. An hour later, he updated that the pilot had arrived and the plane was being refuelled. Rajeev Chawla, another irate passenger, questioned the airline, Do you have a sense of responsibility? Flight from Delhi to Chandigarh (6E 2196) was to depart at 2.55 pm. Now it will depart at 8 pm. Is it fair to harass customers for a 45-min flight for five hours? Passenger Anandika Khajuria appealed to the aviation regulator DGCA and the Civil Aviation Minister to look into what operational issues were causing such lengthy delays. Although Indigo attributed the delays to congestion at Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport, multiple airport sources, including the official spokesperson, denied any such congestion. In the south, the Bengaluru to Coimbatore service (6E 914) departed at 8.20 pm instead of 4.45 pm. Passenger Mayank Jha posted, Flight 6E 914 was supposed to take off at 4.45 pm. Delayed to 7.15 pm and delayed further because the First Officer hasnt even arrived. Who is accountable for this level of mismanagement? The Chennai to Jaipur flight (6E 6381), scheduled to depart at 8.50 pm, was postponed repeatedly before finally being rescheduled to 1 am on 27 November. Flyer Vijay Mathur listed four different delay announcements: from 8.50 pm to 9.20 pm; then to 10.50 pm; then to 12.50 am; and finally to 1 am. The Chandigarh to Mumbai flight (6E 5019) was delayed by nearly seven hours. Scheduled to take off at 3.55 pm, it was eventually slated for departure at 10.45 pm. Passenger Apurva Parekh wrote, Delays of 6 hours and no clarity. These guys have no clue how to handle passengers. Very bad customer service and support. Indigo responded that the delay was due to operational reasons and said the team was doing its best to get the aircraft airborne. Another flyer on the same service, Kumar Gaurav, demanded clarity on the delay. The Mumbai to Bengaluru flight (6E 5074) was delayed thrice, contributing to nearly two hours of waiting time. The delay was attributed to the late arrival of the incoming aircraft (6E 5073). Passenger Pramod Modi posted, 6E 5073 delayed by almost three hours but still such poor gate management that no one in ground staff is able to decide the boarding gate Indigo did not issue any official statement on the disruptions. One user even defended the airline, arguing that the delayed flights formed only a small portion of its total operations. A day earlier, on Tuesday, more than 100 passengers on the Pune to Delhi flight (6E 2285) were delayed by over three hours after one of the pilots refused to fly, stating his duty hours had ended, according to reports from Pune. Violation of Flight Duty Time Limitations is taken seriously by the aviation regulator. If you want, I can also polish the headline further or give 23 alternate options.