IndiGo fiasco enters day 9: 150+ flights cancelled at major airports, disruptions cause massive loss to Delhi economy

IndiGo has been facing massive operational disruptions for more than a week after the new flight duty time limitations (FDTL) rules came into effect. Majorly impacted airports include Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata. As the chaos entered day 9, more than 150 flights were cancelled on Wednesday, with the highest number of cancellations at the Chennai airport. 

IndiGo flight cancellations: Top points to know so far

1. A total of 70 flights (37 arrivals and 33 departures) were cancelled at the Chennai airport, followed by 61 (35 arrivals and 26 departures) at the Bengaluru airport.
2. A total of 33 flights were cancelled at the Hyderabad airport, including 15 departures and 18 arrivals. Besides this, 10 flights scheduled to depart from Ahmedabad airport have also been cancelled.
3. More than 40,000 passengers at the Mumbai airport were affected due to the cancellation of 905 IndiGo flights between December 1-8, and another 2.66 lakh travellers faced delays due to the IndiGo chaos, the Mumbai airport said. 
4. IndiGo, during this period, deployed a total of 3,171 flights, of which it could operate only 2,266 services, said Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL). At the same time, the crisis-hit airline also delayed (beyond 30 minutes), a total of 1,475 flights during the reporting period, it said.
5. The ongoing operational crisis at the airline has impacted Delhi's economy severely, as per the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI).
6. The airline's widespread disruptions have led to a business loss of around ₹1,000 crore to the national capital's trade, industry, tourism and exhibition sectors.
7. As per the CTI chairman, footfalls in Delhi's markets dropped by around 25 per cent over the past 10 days as travellers from outside the national capital have stayed away due to uncertainty around air travel. He said that more than 1.5 lakh passengers travel daily from Delhi airport, nearly 50,000 of whom are traders and business travellers. 
8. Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu announced on Tuesday that the government has directed the airline to trim its flight schedule by 10 per cent. 
9. The government has ordered IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers to expedite the remaining refunds and baggage handover to all passengers affected by the cancellatioons. Naidu added, "He (Elbers) confirmed that 100 per cent of the refunds for flights affected till 6th December have been completed." 
10. The shares of IndiGo fell over 1 per cent a day after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) directed it to slash its domestic winter schedule across all sectors by 10 per cent. The airline's stock hit ₹4,853 apiece but recovered to ₹4,929 by 10:37 am, still down 0.69 per cent. The stock has gone down by 16.71 per cent in the past 2 weeks.