New Delhi:
In a bizarre case, IndiGo deplaned 180 flyers at Chandigarh International Airport due to unavailability of pilot. According to a report by The Hindustan Times, the airline officials took the decision even after the passengers were made to wait for 45 minutes. Though the airline refunded the money, the passengers were forced to travel on their own to Delhi. IndiGo first said that the flight was being grounded due to ‘documentation error’, the HT said the real reason was that pilot didn’t turn up for the flight. “The flight operator has cited some operational constraints,” HT quoted Chandigarh International Airport Ltd spokesperson Prince Dildar as saying.
Earlier on Monday, IndiGo passengers had a difficult time on Monday after a server glitch delayed 63 flights at the Bengaluru airport for more than half-an-hour. The reservation system, which conked out at 4.29 am, could be restored only at 5.07 am, IndiGo said in a statement.
As the IndiGo staff moved to manual bookings due to the server glitch, it resulted in huge queues at the airline's check-in counters across the airports sources say. "Due to some technical reasons, IndiGo server at Bengaluru airport was down from 4:29 am to 5:07 am this morning," IndiGo said in a statement.
Meanwhile, data presented by Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday showed that budget carrier IndiGo employs around 50 per cent of the total number of foreign pilots working in India. A total of 404 foreign pilots are working in India as of June 10 this year, it stated. Out of these, IndiGo has employed 199 pilots, it showed.
"There is a shortage of type rated commanders/pilot-in-command due to growth in aviation sector and induction of new type of aircraft in the fleet of Indian airline operators," Puri said in his written response to a question in the Upper House of Parliament. As per the data presented by the minister, GoAir and Alliance Air stand at the number 2 and the number 3 spots as they employ 65 and 61 foreign pilots respectively. SpiceJet employs 35 foreign pilots as of June 10 this year, it showed.
