Pune Airport Chokes As IndiGo's Grounded Planes Occupy 9 Of 10 Bays; Air India, Akasa Air Cancel Flights

Pune: As severe delays and cancellation of IndiGo flights continue to rock multiple airports for the third consecutive day on Thursday, all 10 bays at the Pune airport are currently occupied by IndiGo aircraft due to extended ground halts. This has further put other airline operators under stress, prompting Air India and Akasa Air to suspend its operations in the city.

“All 10 bays in Pune occupied by other flights,” Air India stated speaking on the Pune airport chaos, blaming IndiGo for its delays.

According to reports, the bay constraints due to IndiGo 6E extended ground halts from the last 18 hours led to an Air India flight from Delhi to Pune being diverted to Mumbai. Air India stated that all passengers impacted will be given surface transport from Mumbai to Pune. 

"Due to non-availability of bays at Pune, out of 10 bays, nine are occupied by 6E with no clarity on their operation timelines, Air India will be terminating AI 2469 DEL Pune (Diverted flight) in BOM , passengers will be given surface transport to Pune," the official had said.

As per latest updates, Air India has temporarily cancelled all its flights from Pune Airport.

The massive flight crisis has prompted the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to summon IndiGo's senior officials for an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon. According to the DGCA, IndiGo has been asked to present a detailed explanation for the “unprecedented nationwide disruption” and to submit an immediate mitigation plan to restore normalcy. The Civil Aviation Ministry will also be holding a meeting with DGCA and other stakeholders.

As per the the DGCA, a total of 1,232 flights had been cancelled during the review period, majority of which were linked to crew shortage and compliance with new Flight duty time limitation (FTDL) norms.

Meanwhile, 30 IndiGo flights that were scheduled to depart from Delhi were cancelled as of early Thursday. 33 IndiGo flights were cancelled from Hyderabad and 73 from Bengaluru, as per latest updates.

Operations at the Mumbai airport were severely hit, as 85 IndiGo flights were cancelled on Thursday. Passengers reported long queues, confusion at ticket counters and repeated rescheduling and lack of clarity from the airline. The Ahmedabad airport also witnessed major disruption with 23 flights cancelled and 53 delayed. At Jammu airport, one flight was cancelled, 5 arrivals and 5 departures were delayed.

With many airports reporting queues stretching outside terminals, passengers voiced anger over lack of information, repeated cancellations and unresponsive customer support.

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