High compensation costs kept IndiGo’s international flights flying amid domestic chaos

NEW DELHI: India’s largest domestic airline chose profitability over the suffering of lakhs of its domestic passengers during its recent operational crisis. From December 1 to 9, IndiGo triggered a massive aviation disruption by cancelling nearly 4,290 domestic flights, impacting passengers across the country.The startling reality, however, is that despite citing multiple issues for the meltdown, the airline cancelled only 60 international flights during the nine-day period.The primary reason was the significantly higher compensation payable to international passengers compared to domestic flyers.Data shared by IndiGo shows that international cancellations accounted for just 2% of the nearly 2,700 international flights operated during the period. The airline operates around 300 international flights daily, connecting 44 destinations, an official said.“The 2% cancellations were for reboot (crew recovery). These were flights with basic loads (low passenger counts) to ensure customer inconvenience was minimised,” the official added.Notably, even on December 5, when IndiGo announced the unprecedented cancellation of all its flights from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, international operations continued.As the crisis raged through the first week of December, a senior airline executive told , “When such a severe operational crisis is unfolding, the airline somehow manages to keep most of its international operations afloat. That is quite a mystery!”



Source link