Terminal illness: How passengers have been hit by flight cancellations

Over two in every 1,000 have been affected by cancellations in 2018; but compensation paid to such passengers has dipped

Over the past few weeks, the struggle for survival at Jet Airways, shortage of pilots at IndiGo Airlines and the grounding of Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes at SpiceJet have resulted in scores of flights being cancelled. Passengers are vexed by the inconvenience and rising airfares. Things could deteriorate if the proposed financial salvage of Jet Airways fails and IndiGo’s operational troubles prolong.

Indeed, 2019 could prove worse than calendar 2018, when there was a sharp spike in the number of domestic air passengers affected by flight cancellations. From about 1.68 lakh in 2017, the number of passengers impacted shot up by more than 80 per cent to 3.08 lakh in 2018, according to data from aviation regulator DGCA.