New Delhi: Despite the relaxation of flight duty time limitations rules, chaos across multiple Indian airports continued on Sunday morning, with atleast 400 flights cancelled across the country. Major air terminals, mainly at urban centres, have been hit the hardest, with a majority of cancellations concentrated at Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Delhi airports.
Amid the chaos in airports, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has served a show cause notice to IndiGo's accountable manager.
The worst hit, Telangana's Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad saw 115 flights cancelled today, with 54 arrivals, and 61 departures affected.
According to a statement from the Delhi Airport, at least 59 departures and 50 arrivals totalling to 109 flights have been cancelled today.
Kolkata saw atleast 76 flights affected, with 53 departure cancelations, and 23 arrivals cancelled. According to a statement from the NSCBI Kolkata airport, between midnight and 10 AM today, out of the 43 departures, 14 have been cancelled. Out of the 17 arrivals scheduled, 2 had been cancelled, and 2 flights had been delayed for more than 30 minutes.
Ahmedabad, another major urban centre for air travel, saw relatively low cancellations at 20 flights, with 12 arrivals and 8 departures cancelled. However, the airport also clarified that there were "no issues in terminal and airside," with passenger facilitation being taken care of.
Out of a combined 226 arrivals and departures scheduled, atleast 33 per cent of IndiGo flights stood cancelled.
In Pune, around 25 flights have been cancelled today, with flights whih were supposed to go across the country.
Meanwhile in the northeast region, Agartala airport saw 6 IndiGo flights cancelled, with flights which were supposed to depart to Kolkata, Delhi, Guwahati, and Bangalore and Imphal.
In South India, Trichy airport saw 5 arrivals cancelled and 6 departures cancelled, with only 1 arrival and 3 departure flights operating till Sunday afternoon.
Amid the large scale flight disruptions, the DGCA has served two show cause notices, with one being issued to the airline's CEO Pieter Elbers on Saturday, and another to the "Accountable Manager".
The regulatory authority has said that such operational failures indicate "significant lapses in planning, oversight, and resource management, and is prima facie non-compliance on the part of the airport with the provisions of Rule 42A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, and the provisions of CAR Section 7, Series J, Party III Issue III (Rev 2) on Duty Period, Flight Duty Period, Flight Time Limitations and Prescribed Rest Periods - Flight crew engaged in Scheduled Air Transport Operations," the show cause notice read. (ANI)
Also Read: Public interest litigation (PIL) in Supreme Court over IndiGo's 'Operational Collapse'