SpiceJet Ltd. has decided to operate 100 additional flights over the next few days to mitigate the chaos left in the wake of IndiGo flight cancellations and delays, according to its chairman.
“What happened is extremely unfortunate, and it has caused a huge amount of inconvenience to passengers… I am sure the government is working really hard to make sure the problem is resolved at the earliest,” SpiceJet Chairman Ajay Singh told ANI on Friday.
“I am sure IndiGo is doing its best… We (SpiceJet) are attempting to help by running 100 additional flights over the next few days.”
Air travel in India across India was in turmoil for a fourth day on Friday after IndiGo, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., cancelled more than 1,000 flights across the country “to align crew and planes”. Operations are unlikely to return to normal until at least next week, CEO Pieter Elbers said.
The disruption has snowballed into chaotic scenes across airports, with crowds of stranded passengers voicing their frustrations with the ground staff. Social media is flooded with videos of angry travellers, with no end in sight.
“It is important to find out what happened and why it happened so that we have lessons for the future and ideas so that these kinds of incidents don’t happen again,” SpiceJet’s Singh said.
India’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has ordered an inquiry to “examine what went wrong at IndiGo”, and determine accountability” and recommend measures to avert such disruptions in future. The new pilot duty rules—the so-called Flight Duty Time Limitations—have also been put in abeyance to help the airline stabilise.
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On Friday, SpiceJet shares rose 2.54% to ₹31.11 apiece on the BSE even as those of IndiGo fell 1.22% to ₹5,371.30. The benchmark Sensex ended the day 0.52% higher at 85,712.37 points.
