IndiGo pulls out 30 flights, says cancellations to continue
Mumbai, Feb 12: Shortage of pilots continued to hamper operations of IndiGo with the budget carrier Tuesday cancelling as many as 30 flights from across major airports and passengers allegedly being forced to buy last minute tickets at high fares, a source said.
The airline said flight cancellations will continue for some more days, affecting around 30 flights per day.
On Monday also, the airline had pulled out 32 flights from its network at short notice inconveniencing tens of hundreds of passengers.
Acknowledging the disruption in its services, the airline said, it will "slightly adjust" its schedules in the coming days, impacting about 30 flights per day.
Meanwhile, a senior official said aviation regulator DGCA is looking into the "issue."
"IndiGo is slightly adjusting its flight schedule in the coming days by around 30 flights per day to stabilise the network and operations impacted due to various ongoing Notams and likely bad weather in the coming days," the airline said in a statement after the PTI story went on wire.
Notam, or notice to airmen, is given to pilots and include information on potential hazards on a flight route.
IndiGo has cancelled 30 flights Tuesday due to the on-going pilot shortages. Most flights have been cancelled from Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, a source told PTI earlier in the day.
While eight flights were not operated from Kolkata, another five flights were cancelled from Hyderabad and four each from Bangalore and Chennai among others,the source added.
The source also alleged that IndiGo was forcing passengers to either buy last minute tickets on its flights or offering them alternate flights with one-stop connectivity with a long layover time.
"To avoid inconvenience, these adjustments are being made in advance, enabling adequate notice to passengers. They are being accommodated close to their original flight schedule. These adjustments amount to 1-2 percent of the originally planned flights," IndiGo said in the statement.
An airline official said the disruption in the flight operations emanated from the heavy rains and hailstorm that hit the Delhi-NCR region last week and subsequent FDTL issue.
Both the pilots and cabin crew are governed by DGCA mandated flight duty and time limitation (FDTL) norms and they can't fly beyond the FDTL.
The airline had Sunday blamed bad weather for disruptions in operations across its network.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
