NEW DELHI: An unforeseen cabin crew shortage led to hundreds of IndiGo flights getting delayed on Saturday (July 2). Government data shows only 45% of IndiGo flights — which operates nearly 1,600 domestic-cum-international services daily — were able to operate on time (within 15 minutes of scheduled departure time) on Saturday. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has sought a report from the airline — which over the years built a reputation for punctuality — on the sudden and sharp dip.
Incidentally, Tata Group Air India and AI Express have been conducting walk-in interviews for hiring cabin crew these days. Industry insiders say a sizeable percentage of IndiGo cabin crew no shows this weekend may have been due to them going for the AI walk-ins.
Comments from IndiGo have been sought and are awaited.
DGCA data shows IndiGo accounted for nearly 58 of every 100 domestic flyers last month. On July 2, almost 3.3 lakh people flew within the country. Using the same ratio, nearly 1.9 lakh people were to have flown IndiGo domestic on Saturday. A very rough estimation shows that just less than 1,000 flights could have been delayed on Saturday, affecting well over a lakh flyers — both domestic and international.
