IndiGo's third day of mass flight cancellations throws Indian airports into disarray

Thousands of IndiGo passengers were stranded by flight cancellations on Thursday - a third day of chaos after the country's biggest airline did not make sufficient changes to its roster planning ahead of new government regulations.

At least 175 IndiGo flights were cancelled as of early Thursday leaving passengers at major airports in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru angry and upset. On Wednesday, at least 150 flights were cancelled.

Shares of IndiGo, which commands 60 per cent of the market and has built its reputation on punctuality, fell 3.4 per cent on Thursday and are now down 6 per cent for the week.

The Federation of Indian Pilots said IndiGo was not able to make timely roster adjustments and plan its schedule properly due to new rules that increased pilot rest periods and introduced some restrictions on night flying. The rules, announced last year, went into effect on November 1.

IndiGo has acknowledged that stricter flight duty time limits have been a factor in the cancellations. The airline did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Other airlines including Air India, Spicejet and Akasa Air have not been impacted.

On Thursday, 73 flights were cancelled at Bengaluru airport, its spokesperson said. Around 30 were cancelled in Delhi, and 68 in Hyderabad, according to airport sources.

A Reuters photographer said she was stuck inside her IndiGo plane for three hours when it landed in the western city of Pune on Wednesday night, with the pilot citing operational issues and the lack of permission to dock the plane until other planes had flown.

The pilot had told passengers that the situation was unprecedented, the photographer added.

Ram Shankar Yadav, who was travelling with family to attend his younger brother's wedding celebrations, told Reuters that his flight had been delayed for six hours.

"We don't have enough chairs. People are taking newspapers to sit on floor," Yadav told Reuters by telephone from the airport in Pune.

"People are angry. There's nobody to manage; their helplines are not working," he added.