IndiGo Flight Cancellations Trigger 10X Airfare Surge

The aviation industry in India was experiencing unprecedented turmoil as the huge IndiGo flight cancellation created panic among the people and the airfares shot up across major routes on Saturday. When the largest airline in the country cancelled almost 1,000 flights on Friday as a result of acute shortage of pilots and cabin crews, it spilled over to competing airlines and recorded unprecedented prices on tickets. Delhi-Bengaluru, Delhi-Mumbai, and Hyderabad-Delhi were some of the major routes that had the price increase to as much as ten times of normal fare. As the peak travel season has entered into full gear, passengers experienced lack of seats, emotional shocks and financial burden.

Mass Cancellations Spark Nationwide Price Shock

The abrupt cancellation of approximately 1,000 IndiGo flights towards the end of Friday caused a great havoc in the domestic airline of India. Having control in more than two-thirds of the domestic market, IndiGo felt the blow everywhere. The flight reservation websites indicated remarkable inflated prices in major routes, especially those interconnected with Delhi.

There were shocking prices in the eyes of passengers who sought alternatives. One-way Air India tickets on the Delhi-Bengaluru route were sold over 1.02 lakh and non-stop SpiceJet fares were almost 94,000. Even the legacy cheap short distance flights like Hyderabad to Bengaluru had soared to 35,000-40,000 way way higher than the normal 4,000-8,000 brackets.

Crew Shortage and Operational Reset Behind Disruption

The cause of the crisis is deep seated in extreme shortage of trained pilots and cabin crew at IndiGo. The airline argues that previous mitigation measures did not stabilise operations, which led to the total reset of schedules and internal mechanisms. Consequently, the entire domestic flights which were set to take off on Friday were cancelled until midnight.

The head of the IndiGo airlines Pieter Elbers, made an apology publicly after the inconvenience and said that the airline had gone to extra lengths to enhance reliability. On the gradual normalisation, he assured passengers that it is supposed to happen within the period of December 10-15, but industry analysts believe that the pressure of backlog may still be experienced even after this period.

Rival Airlines Cash In on Demand Surge

As the presence of IndiGo was based on an enormous level, competitors rushed to fill the gap. Air India, Akasa Air, SpiceJet and Air India Express unmercifully increased the fare in their key routes. Same-day tickets between Delhi and Mumbai cost as high as 60,000 and Chennai Delhi tickets soared to offer prices of more than 41,000.

The number of seats on the weekend and early the following week will be limited thus high prices will prevail. Even the bookings made in advance depict higher base fares, and Delhi-Mumbai tickets begin at higher than 33,000 between the next few days.

Travel Industry Calls It a Peak-Season Nightmare

There was a serious concern on the crisis by tourism and hospitality associations. General Secretary of FAITH, Rajiv Mehra termed the situation as a nightmare to both the travellers and businesses. He noted that the timing of the disruptive event was the most unfavorable as it disrupted thousands of holiday plans and business engagements, which is when India was at the best of holiday seasons.

This deficiency of proper coordination between the aviation regulator and the airline also caught his eye, indicating that with proper planning, such colossal mess would have been avoided.

Political Reactions and Government Probe

The political reactions have also been caused by the chaos. The government was accused by the opposition leaders of permitting monopoly in the airline industry. In the meantime, the Centre has commissioned an inquiry of the rank and order into the cancellations and promised that the full services will be returned in three days.