IndiGo, India’s largest airline, is facing increasing challenges as numerous flights between Dubai and Mumbai experience cancellations and delays, impacting many passengers.
While some passengers encountered minor delays, others had to wait for up to 10 hours. A Dubai resident shared with Khaleej Times that his relative endured nearly a 10-hour delay on Thursday night while waiting to fly to Mumbai. “My brother was supposed to leave Dubai for Mumbai on the 12:15 pm IndiGo flight for medical appointments,” said Mohammed.
“He was delayed by almost 10 hours, with the flight finally departing around 10 pm on Thursday. Fortunately, he had scheduled his appointments for Friday, so he faced no issues.”
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Another passenger, Satish, 27, arrived at Dubai International Airport (DXB) Terminal 1 on December 4 before 5 pm for his 7 pm IndiGo 6E 1454 flight to Mumbai. “We were notified that the plane from Mumbai was delayed, so we were already expecting a delay.”
“Initially, we were told the 7:05 pm flight was moved to 8:15 pm. At 7:40 pm, we went to the boarding gate, but 8:15 pm passed without boarding. We approached the ground crew for information and were informed the flight was canceled.”
“The flight was fully booked, and we had only two choices: wait for the next flight, with no certainty of its timing or book another airline at more than triple the cost of our original ticket,” added Satish, who faced an additional issue as his visa was single entry.
“Luckily, when I left the airport, immigration allowed me to re-enter Dubai as my visa was valid until early January, and I never actually left Dubai,” he added, noting: “Some passengers had their visas expire on Thursday.”
Other Delayed Flights
Several other IndiGo flights departing from the UAE have been delayed or are expected to run late on Friday. The Dubai-Kozhikode flight, scheduled for 3:20 am on Friday, eventually took off over eight hours later at 11:29 am.
Another IndiGo flight to Kochi, scheduled to depart at 11:45 am, took off 30 minutes late at 12:15 pm. A Dubai-Ahmedabad flight, set to take off at 5:15 am on Friday, is now expected to depart at 3 pm, a delay of nearly 10 hours.
IndiGo Issues Apology
Thursday’s flight cancellations coincided with a public apology from the troubled Indian carrier.
“The last two days have seen significant disruptions across IndiGo’s network and operations. We sincerely apologize to all our customers and industry stakeholders affected by these events,” the airline stated on X.
In recent days, hundreds of IndiGo flights, particularly domestic ones, have been canceled, largely due to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) implementing new Flight Duty Time Limitations. These new rules require pilots to have 48 hours of rest weekly and limit night landings to two per week, down from six. This ruling followed an increase in pilot fatigue complaints.
India’s largest airline canceled over 500 flights on Friday, marking the fourth day of disruptions. It may take several weeks to clear the backlog. According to Indian media, the DGCA issued a notice to relax crew rest requirements for airlines in light of the ongoing disruptions.
