NEW DELHI: Indigo flights across the country suffered extensive delays from Wednesday evening into the night, with the airline repeatedly citing “operational reasons”. While Indigo also mentioned air-traffic congestion at Mumbai and Delhi, officials at Delhi airport completely denied any such congestion. Passengers, meanwhile, alleged that the non-availability of pilots for certain flights was among the key causes.

Multiple attempts to obtain an official response from Indigo yielded no result. However, the airline’s official handle on X kept replying to passengers that every delay was due to “operational reasons”.

The worst affected routes included the Delhi–Chandigarh sector, where flights were delayed in both directions. Deepak Dhiman, a passenger, posted, “Indigo flight 6E 2195 from Chandigarh to Delhi is delayed by 6 hours. Pilot is not available to fire the engine. Passengers are forced to wait for the pilot. No one knows when this flight will take off.” An hour later, he updated that the pilot had arrived and the plane was being refuelled.

Rajeev Chawla, another irate passenger, questioned the airline, “Do you have a sense of responsibility? Flight from Delhi to Chandigarh (6E 2196) was to depart at 2.55 pm. Now it will depart at 8 pm. Is it fair to harass customers for a 45-min flight for five hours?”

Passenger Anandika Khajuria appealed to the aviation regulator DGCA and the Civil Aviation Minister to look into what operational issues were causing such lengthy delays.

Although Indigo attributed the delays to congestion at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport, multiple airport sources, including the official spokesperson, denied any such congestion.

In the south, the Bengaluru to Coimbatore service (6E 914) departed at 8.20 pm instead of 4.45 pm. Passenger Mayank Jha posted, “Flight 6E 914 was supposed to take off at 4.45 pm. Delayed to 7.15 pm and delayed further because the First Officer hasn’t even arrived. Who is accountable for this level of mismanagement?”