IndiGo resumes partial operations at Chennai airport; 48 flights cancelled today

CHENNAI: IndiGo resumed partial operations at Chennai airport early on Sunday after suspending services on Saturday afternoon due to a severe shortage of cockpit and cabin crew nationwide. However, full operations have not yet been restored.

The first IndiGo flight departed Chennai for Pune at 3 a.m., followed by services to Ahmedabad, Andaman, Guwahati, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Jaipur and Kochi. The airline has announced that more services will be restored gradually through the day.

The disruption, which began four days ago, left passengers across the country stranded. Chennai airport also witnessed significant delays and crowding as services were curtailed. On Saturday, IndiGo halted all its flights from Chennai, causing widespread inconvenience.

Despite the partial resumption on Sunday, the airline announced the cancellation of 48 flights operating to and from Chennai. A total of 28 departures to destinations including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Kochi, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar and Patna were cancelled. In addition, 20 incoming flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Andaman and Coimbatore were called off.

IndiGo has said the number of cancellations will gradually reduce and regular flight schedules are expected to resume by December 10.

Passengers at Chennai airport, who have been facing difficulties for four days, said the advance announcement of cancellations on Sunday allowed them some relief despite the disruption.