IndiGo disruptions: Airline cancels 67 flights; bad weather, operational reasons cited

IndiGo, on Thursday, canceled 67 flights, with 63 due to expected bad weather and 4 for operational reasons. The cancellations affected several airports including Agartala, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Varanasi, and Bengaluru. This comes while the airline is already under DGCA monitoring following massive flight disruptions earlier this month.The winter fog season, as announced by DGCA, runs from December 10 to February 10, during which there are additional rules specified. Airlines must use specially trained pilots and equipped aircraft that can handle low-visibility conditions. The planes need CAT-IIIB technology, which lets them land safely even when visibility drops to 50 meters or less. IndiGo is currently operating fewer flights than planned. Initially, they were allowed 2,144 daily domestic flights this winter. But after canceling 1,600 flights in one day due to new pilot rest rules, the government cut their schedule by 10%. Now they can only operate 1,930 domestic flights daily.A four-member DGCA panel is investigating IndiGo's recent operational problems. The team has already questioned IndiGo's CEO Pieter Elbers and COO Isidre Porqueras. Their report is expected this week.The airline posted on X about flight delays in Bangalore due to fog and low visibility. These issues follow earlier disruptions when IndiGo canceled thousands of flights between December 1-9. The problems arose from poor planning and staff shortages while implementing new pilot rest regulations that took effect on November 1.