Airbus A320 Neo engine hits IndiGo passengers! Over 1 lakh affected by flight cancellations

The beginning of 2018 has not been kind to the largest airline in India, InterGlobe Aviation aka Indigo in terms of market share, as it faced aviation ministry criticism over Airbus A320 Neo engines and many emergency landings. Recent government data has revealed that, shockingly over 1.8 lakh IndiGo passengers were affected because of  large-scale flight cancellations. The information was revealed by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. 

It is being known that, Indigo cancelled about 1,824 flights in first five months of 2018, which resulted in impacting 1,08,549 passengers, the highest among the domestic carriers. However, Sinha did not reveal the main reason behind such cancellations. 

This number of affected passengers is quite high compared to last year, when Indigo recorded 52,489 passengers getting hit due to over 1,934 flight cancellations.

Asked for its response, an IndiGo spokesperson told PTI, "A significant reason for flight cancellations from January to May was grounding of neo planes, delivery delays and bad weather conditions in different parts of the country at different times."

The spokesperson added that most of the cancellations are planned in advance. 

Indigo which has 40% of market share in aviation industry, cancelled as many as 488 flights alone between March 15 to March 31, 2018. The reason was A320 Neo aircraft failure. 

The A320neo (new engine option) is one of many upgrades introduced by Airbus to help maintain its A320 product line’s position as the world’s most advanced and fuel-efficient single-aisle aircraft family. However, starting March, the DGCA took action against the company after it recorded back-to-back A320 Neo engine failure issues in Indigo jets. 

The grounding of the aircraft dealt a blow to the airline's schedule, as one plane is used for operating around 8 to 9 flights on an average. IndiGo operates around 1,000 flights every day.

Last year in June quarter, the airline grounded nine A320 neo planes due to engine issues which resulted in cancellation of 84 flights on that time. 

Indigo was not alone in receiving strict action from DGCA, GoAir also faced the same issues in March this year. As per the data given, Sinha highlighted that 986 of its passengers were affected because of the cancellation of its flights -- 204.

Overall number of passengers who were affected till May stood at 1,52,069, with 3,843 flights being cancelled by the domestic carriers, as per Sinha. Also reportedly, about Rs 223.21 lakh were paid as an compensation to passengers affected by airlines till May this year. 

Although Indigo had highest number passengers being affected, the airline compensation paid was just Rs 4.55 lakh. SpiceJet another private carrier who registered about 11,754 passengers getting affected due to flight cancellation had paid Rs 72.62 lakh as compensation.