20 flights of IndiGo cancelled from Madhya Pradesh, situation improving: Officials

Bhopal, Dec 6 (PTI) A total of 20 flights or 40 aircraft movements of IndiGo from five airports in Madhya Pradesh were cancelled on Saturday, officials said.

The fresh cancellations dropped sharply from the 85 movements, including arrivals and departures, that were scrapped the previous day, indicating an improvement of around 50 per cent in services.

Twenty-six flight movements were cancelled in Indore, eight in Bhopal and six in Jabalpur, they said.

Passengers did not raise major complaints against the airline on Saturday despite high airfares, and their anger was noticeably lower than a day earlier, officials said.

No IndiGo movements were cancelled in Khajuraho or Gwalior, Khajuraho airport director Santosh Singh told PTI.

Gwalior's Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Airport Director Lokesh Yadav stated that the IndiGo flight to Mumbai, scheduled for 2:15 PM, was delayed by an hour. A flight for Delhi, scheduled for 4:10 PM, took off 40 minutes late.

Indore's Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport handles around 70 IndiGo movements daily. Of these, 26, including 13 arrivals and an equal number of departures, were cancelled by 4 pm, said airport director Sunil Maggirwar.

He claimed the airline promptly refunded passengers. Food, water, and hotel stay were arranged for those rescheduling their travel.

"Overall, things have improved by 50 per cent. I think operations will be normal in two to three days," he added.

"I have directed airport stalls to keep adequate stock of food and other essentials. Washrooms are being cleaned regularly, and seating and resting arrangements have been increased," Maggirwar added.

Raja Bhoj Airport Director Ramji Awasthi said eight IndiGo flight movements were cancelled in Bhopal. Of the 30 scheduled movements, 22 were operated, he added.

At Jabalpur's Dumna Airport, three arrivals and an equal number of departures (six aircraft movements) were cancelled out of a total of 12, according to airport director Rajeev Ratan Pandey.

Abhishek Maheshwari, a passenger who landed at Bhopal airport, told PTI he had been inconvenienced for the past two days.

"I flew to Delhi from Indore two days back. That flight was three hours late. For the last two days, my tickets were cancelled. From here, I have to catch a bus to Indore as there was no seat available from Delhi," he said.

Shailash Choudhary, who returned from Malaysia, said he had a difficult time getting his connecting flight to Bhopal.

"They are not giving information about flights. CISF personnel are not allowing passengers to enter the Delhi Airport at the behest of IndiGo officials. Yesterday, an Air India ticket was Rs 25,000. There was no ticket, even under the Tatkal service of the railways," he said.

If the flight is cancelled, they should at least inform passengers so they can check into a hotel, he added.

Prabhat Kumar, who landed in Bhopal from Delhi, said the situation at airports had improved. On high airfares, he said, even train tickets were expensive. PTI LAL NSK