A spate of flight cancellations by IndiGo, India’s largest airline, has caused a surge in airfares on international routes the airline flies, besides to local destinations. While the government on Saturday put upper limits on fares on domestic flights, international rates are unlikely to be affected by the direction. Since foreign travel often involves multiple legs, hotel bookings and formalities like visa and immigration checks, the impact is more pronounced on international travellers.
For people like Urvashi, it also means a long-planned holiday trip turning into a mess.
“I don’t know if my flight will get cancelled or not, and I don’t want to take a chance,” she said, asking not to reveal her full name.
IndiGo for the last two years has pressed on international expansion, with 30% of its 2,300 daily flights now on international routes. It plans to increase this to 40% by next year.
The airline has non-stop flights to Male, Istanbul, Denpasar, Manchester and Amsterdam, besides operations to several neighbouring countries and the Gulf. The latest addition was in October, when it launched direct flights between Mumbai and Copenhagen, its 44th international destination. Many of these flights were cancelled in the last few days due to a shortage of pilots, after the airline failed to rework crew-scheduling to meet new duty regulations. It also has multiple codeshares with foreign airlines where it feeds into flights of international carriers like British Airways, KLM and Air France. With IndiGo’s flights getting cancelled, many passengers of those airlines also miss their flights.
Many passengers are stranded in foreign airports.
In Colombo, Sri Lanka, travel industry executive Mohan R spent a hapless Friday night at the Bandaranaike International Airport, as his IndiGo flight to Bengaluru didn’t take off. With no direct or indirect flights available on Saturday, he is now booked on a Chennai flight for Sunday evening, for getting back to Bengaluru. Immigration officials didn’t let him step out of the airport as all immigration checks and boarding was complete, but relented later, sensing the unavailability of flights, Mohan said.
“If Covid-19 taught me life lessons, this trip has been no different. There is nothing more disheartening than your own brands and companies letting you down in another country. I was on my own,” he said.
Holiday travellers, who often book flights and accommodation well in advance, are among the worst affected, say travel industry executives. Many may also lose money on hotel bookings.
The flight cancellations have created unprecedented cost escalation for holiday trips, said a senior executive of a travel major specialising in international holiday packages. “Customers from non-metros and smaller towns reaching Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru for scheduled international trips are missing connecting flights for international departures. Fares on alternative domestic carriers have also increased significantly,” he said.
Travel industry insiders said land operators and hotels overseas are unwilling to offer refunds. “No show charges apply if customers miss their flights,” an industry professional said. “Business travellers are also rescheduling,” he added.
Amar Kedia, who runs luxury travel advisory firm TravelBluez in Mumbai, said a client from Jaipur had planned a honeymoon trip to the Maldives. “He had a connecting flight via Mumbai to Male and they cancelled the first leg of the flight. Hotels in the Maldives are very expensive, so he drove to Delhi and booked a ridiculously expensive Air India flight to get there,” said Kedia.
“The bigger problem is communication, and the airline is completely found wanting there. I received email notifications on cancellations, but there are no details of flight or PNR numbers in these emails,” he said. “As a travel services provider, I make multiple bookings for the same date, and there is no way to figure out which flights have been cancelled and the amount refunded.”
Travellers to Bangkok, Krabi, Dubai, Istanbul and Abu Dhabi have also been impacted, Kedia said.
Ravi Gosain, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said many domestic and international tourists are stuck at airports, and there is huge pressure on travel agents and tour operators with limited options.
“The priority for the carrier right now should be transparent updates, proactive re-accommodation and timely refunds. We will surely raise the refund issue with IndiGo to protect the interests of our members to rebuild traveller confidence,” he added.
This is the peak inbound travel season and the flight cancellations are affecting both international and domestic travellers, said Rajiv Mehra, general secretary of the Federation of Associations in Tourism and Hospitality. “The government should resolve this on an immediate basis.”
In Colombo, Mohan, the travel industry executive, booked a Taj Vivanta hotel close to the airport in order to get back at the earliest in the wake of flooding triggered by Cyclone Ditwah. His co-passengers included an American tourist who hoped to reach Goa from Bengaluru and an elderly couple from Gujarat, he said. “As a customer, I had this belief that they won’t do this to international flights and that I won’t get impacted. I had high hopes and I was one of the several customers stranded at a global airport.”
