What is the story about?
IndiGo, one of India’s largest airlines, has faced widespread disruptions, leading to chaos, at airports across the country for over five days. A soldier
working in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was also left stranded and stressed after his Bengaluru-Delhi flight landed at Nagpur on Saturday. K Shirjith was supposed to join his unit in Kashmir the next day after his annual leave ended; however, he was dropped off at Nagpur, TOI reported. Shirjith spent his holidays in his Karnataka village. After his leave ended, he, along with his four colleagues, reached Bengaluru Airport to catch their IndiGo flight to Delhi before taking a connecting flight to Srinagar.
Here's What Happened With The Soldier
But it took a turn as he was among passengers on the Bengaluru-Delhi flight who were dropped off at Nagpur. Later, they discovered that the onward flight had been cancelled.
"I have to report to duty tomorrow, just put yourself in my place," screamed Shirjith, joined by his colleagues from CRPF and an armyman.
When passengers reached Bengaluru airport, they got to know that the itinerary had changed and instead of a Delhi-bound flight, they were boarded on a plane to Nagpur, as the airline staff said that they would be getting a flight to Delhi from Nagpur instead.
As they reached Nagpur, they got a message that the flight to Delhi was cancelled, according to a TOI report. Later, the aircraft, which was supposed to take off, eventually di,d and they left for Delhi.
However, for the entire time, the signboard showed that the flight to Delhi was cancelled, leaving them confused and stranded.
Also Read: IndiGo Takes Off Again: Airline Restores 95% Network Connectivity - How Many Flights Will It Run Today?
Here's What Made It Worse
The soldier stressed that the airline said their fare would be refunded, but they should arrange alternate tickets as they have to reach Leh on time. Further, talking about what made it worse, the soldiers said that their baggage remained in the aircraft which came from Bengaluru.
IndiGo Reboot
After days of chaos and widespread disruptions, IndiGo issued a statement on Saturday (December 6), announcing plans to operate over 1,500 flights by the end of Sunday, and assuring that there are some "early signs of improvement". The airline stressed that over 95 per cent of network connectivity has already been re-established.
In the statement posted on X, IndiGo said that it cancelled a significant number of flights on December 5 while operating just over 700 services to 113 destinations as part of a large-scale system reboot. The airline said the reset was essential to stabilising operations, improving schedules, and beginning Saturday with a stronger network.
"The main objective was to reboot the network, systems, and rosters so that we could start afresh today with a higher number of flights, improved stability, and there are some early signs of improvement. Today, we are on our way to operate over 1,500 flights by the end of the day," it said.
