Indigo, GoAir flight cancellation: Passengers struggle as carriers scrap flights; see list

Indigo, GoAir flight cancellation: In the aftermath of grounding of some A320Neo planes by DGCA, both the low-cost carriers Interglobe Aviation (Indigo) and GoAir are expected to cancel as many as 620 domestic flights in the current month. If this is the case, then passengers who have booked air tickets in the month of March, will face a harrowing time. Also, as both Indigo and GoAir together operate more than 1,200 flights daily on an average, the cancellations may significantly disrupt the summer schedule of a huge number of travellers. 

It has been revealed that, Indigo which is the largest domestic carrier of India in terms of market share, will be cancelling as many as 488 flights between March 15 to March 31, 2018. Meanwhile GoAir is seen cancelling about 138 flights between March 15 - March 22. 

As per the detailed flight schedule submitted to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), a PTI report highlighted that, Indigo would not operate 36 daily flights between March 15 and March 21.

While reportedly another 18 flights would remain cancelled between March 22 and March 24. The number of flights cancelled between March 25 and March 31 stands at 16 per day, the airline indicated.

If we take the data, such leads to cancellation of a total 488 flights by end of March for Indigo. 

Meanwhile, Indigo has been submitting details about their flights that are being cancelled for their passengers, between March 15 - March 31, on their website. 

Here's the list of the flights that cancelled so far by Indigo.

Indigo passengers travelling to Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Amritsar, Coimbatore, Raipur, Visakhapatnam and Jaipur - are most affected during the period. 

Earlier in a BSE statement, Indigo said, "Upon the implementation of DGCA's directive, the company will have a total of nine A320Neo aircraft on the ground. This has resulted in cancellation of certain flights."

Considering the impact, the company has assured the affected passengers by saying, "Given that we have multiple flights to the same destination, we have proactively tried to re-accommodate all our affected passengers on other flights."

"All affected passengers have been given the option to either choose another flight at no additional cost or cancel their booking and get a full refund without any cancellation charges."

Meanwhile, GoAir so far has cancelled seven daily flights to 10 destinations between March 16 and March 24. Apart from this, the airline is cancelling six services per week between March 15 and March 22.

Currently, IndiGo carries about 40% of domestic flyers, while GoAir holds a 10%  market share in the country. 

Such situation arose after an Indigo A320Neo flight returned to Ahmedabad on Monday, within 40 minutes of being airborne due to the an engine  glitch and the DGCA took action. The flight was suppose to halt in Lucknow. 

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. 

The baseline A320neo jetliner has a choice of two new-generation engines (the PurePower PW1100G-JM from Pratt and Whitney and the LEAP-1A from CFM International) and features large, fuel-saving wingtip devices known as Sharklets.