The GMR Hyderabad International Airport (RGIA) has released an official statement to address mounting chaos and confusion among passengers after a significant number of flight cancellations, primarily affecting IndiGo services.
The airport confirmed that IndiGo faced "many operational and technical issues", leading to disruption of their schedule on December 2 and 3. The airport authority, however, maintained that overall operations within the airport area remained normal.
The confusion peaked as passengers struggled with last-minute cancellations and delays, prompting the airport to issue official updates across its social media platforms, providing clarity and the consolidated cancellation figures.
According to the official data released by RGIA, the two-day disruption resulted in the cancellation of 33 flights across arrivals and departures.
On December 2, the cancellations included 9 departures and 5 arrivals. The impact intensified on December 3 - there were 7 cancelled departures and 12 cancelled arrivals, all stemming from IndiGo's operational challenges.
The statement emphasised that while IndiGo worked to resolve its technical and operational challenges, the infrastructure and services of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport itself continued to function without hindrance.
Passengers were advised to check the latest flight status directly with the airlines before heading to the airport.
Over the last two days, Indigo has been facing one of its worst operational crises. By Wednesday afternoon, airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad together reported close to 200 cancellations.
IndiGo has been struggling with its duty roster since the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms were implemented last month. These cap the number of hours a crew member can be on duty. Under this, flying time is reduced to eight hours a day, 35 hours a week, 125 hours a month and 1,000 hours a year.
At the Delhi airport, a slowdown linked to the Amadeus system, used by airlines for check-ins, reservations and departure control, compounded the problems.
