Popular budget carrier, Indigo, has cancelled about 130 flights scheduled for Friday, due to shortage of pilots and notices to airmen (NOTAM).
Mumbai: Acute shortage of pilots along with notices to airmen(NOTAM) at some airports has forced Indigo to cancel around 130 flights scheduled for Friday.
Sources at the Gurugram-based carrier said, "Indigo has cancelled around 130 flights scheduled for Friday as it continues to face shortage of pilots." An Indigo spokesperson, however, said the airline has not cancelled any additional flights other than the schedule cancellations.
Indigo operates over 1,300 flights per day with a fleet of 210 planes. The cancelled flights account for almost 10% of the airlines operations, the source said.
The budget carrier has been cancelling flights since last Saturday after rain and hailstorm hit the Delhi-NCR region last week. On Thursday, it did not operate as many as 70 flights, citing reasons like planned cancellations and partial closure of the Bengaluru airport due to the Aero Show.
In a statement issued earlier, the carrier said that there were anticipated cancellations of around 30 flights per day. "The operations will be completely normalised by the start of the summer schedule from March 31," read the statement.
"Additionally, a NOTAM in Bengaluru, started effective February 14, caused additional cancellations of 40 flights, rescheduling for which had been completed a month ago. And passengers were informed and reaccomodated accordingly," the airline said in its earlier statement.
As many as 49 aircraft had been cancelled on February 13. In a statement issued that same day, Indigo said, "The cancellations on February 13 were caused by several factors like anticipated weather conditions on February 14 and NOTAMs at various airports. This resulted in extended duty times which then made it necessary to re-roster our crew and optimise our operations."
Further, the airline said it has decided to curtail its schedule for the remaining period of this month by "approximately 30 flights a day". "This is in order to stabilise its operation and adjust crew rosters due to the reasons mentioned above. Passengers are in the process of being informed and re-accommodated," the carrier had said.
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