India travel chaos escalates, hundreds of flights canceled

India’s largest airline IndiGo canceled hundreds of scheduled flights on Friday after a three-day suspension, worsening travel chaos in the country. widespread destruction through its network.

The airline, which has a 60% market share in India and operates more than 2,000 flights a day, has been facing a shortage of pilots as it failed to adapt to new crew scheduling rules.

Thousands of passengers are stranded across India during the busy tourist season, with all IndiGo flights from the capital Delhi canceled.

IndiGo said operations would not fully return to normal until February 10 and sought temporary relief from new regulations requiring more rest periods and limiting night duty.

The airline also said it would reduce flight operations from December 8 to minimize disruption.

The government said it was monitoring the situation closely, with the federal aviation minister expressing “clear dissatisfaction” with the way airlines had handled the situation.

India’s aviation regulator said in a separate statement that the main reason for the disruption was “miscalculation and planning flaws” in the implementation of new flight duty time limit rules.

The regulator has directed IndiGo to submit a detailed plan for crew recruitment, training, roster restructuring, safety risk assessment and other mitigating measures with immediate effect.

Meanwhile, the airline has come under heavy criticism from the Airline Pilots Association of India, which said any grace given to the airline on duty hours would defeat the spirit of the new regulations and “seriously” compromise the safety of the flying public.

Pilots get more rest time under the new rules, with one major change requiring pilots to make two night landings per week, compared with six under the old rules.

December is a busy month for travel in India, with school holidays and peak wedding season just around the corner.

IndiGo said it will waive all cancellation/rescheduling requests for travel between December 5 and 15. It is also arranging hotel rooms and food for passengers whose travels have been disrupted.

But some passengers took to social media to express anger at not being given the latest information and being stranded at the airport without food.

Singapore’s high commissioner to India, Simon Wong, said he “gaffeed” as he joined thousands of people stranded at the airport and had to miss the wedding of a young staff member.

Major airports in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities have issued advisories asking passengers to check flight status before heading to the airport.