IndiGo requests relief, no solace for travellers after 600 flights cancelled

The low-cost giant, which commands 60% of India’s domestic market, has now cancelled more than 600 flights since Tuesday.

India’s biggest airline IndiGo cancelled over 400flights on Thursday — the third consecutive day of chaos — as the carrier admitted to aviation regulators that its operational meltdown stemmed from “misjudgment and planning gaps” in adapting to crew fatigue rules it had two years to prepare for.

The low-cost giant, which commands 60% of India’s domestic market, has now cancelled more than 600 flights since Tuesday, stranding tens of thousands of passengers and laying bare the fragility of a business model predicated on relentless cost optimisation with minimal operational buffers. The crisis has also exposed the lack of choice for passengers in India’s aviation sector