Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport witnessed a significant recovery in IndiGo's operations on Saturday, a day after the airline managed to operate only a fraction of its schedule, plunging travel plans into chaos. The low-cost carrier managed to run 69% of its scheduled services from the city, a stark improvement from the mere 13% operation on Friday.
From Chaos to Calm: The Saturday Turnaround
The airline's proactive measures brought much-needed relief to harried passengers. While 62 flights were still cancelled on Saturday, IndiGo announced these changes early in the morning, sparing travellers hours of uncertainty at the airport. The carrier also successfully maintained all its international operations, including flights to key destinations like Guangzhou in China, Singapore, and Ho Chi Minh City.
This recovery followed a nationwide strategy by IndiGo to execute a hard reboot of its systems on Friday, cancelling most flights to start afresh on Saturday. The data from Kolkata airport illustrated this bounce-back: by 11 am on Saturday, the airline had operated 45 flights and cancelled eight. By 4:30 pm, the numbers had improved further, with 105 services flown and 25 cancellations.
Passenger Relief Amid Lingering Anxiety
For passengers like Vaibhav Suneja from Melbourne, who was travelling to Kolkata to visit his in-laws, the on-time operation was a welcome surprise. "I was worried if I would at all be able to come to Kolkata on Saturday. But I decided to take a chance. The flight took off on time and landed before time in Kolkata," he recounted.
Similar relief was felt by Varsha Jain from Bhownaipore, who was booked on a flight from Guwahati. "I have been extremely tense... I was mentally prepared that my flight would be cancelled. So it was a surprise that the flight operated on time," she said.
However, airport officials noted that passenger loads on some services were lower than usual. The reason was apparent: many travellers had preemptively cancelled their plans, fearing further disruption and the harassment experienced the previous day.
Not All Smooth Sailing: The Cost of Disruption
The recovery did not benefit everyone. The fallout from Friday's mass cancellations had severe financial and logistical consequences for some. Poulami Ghosh, a first-year student at SRM University, faced a steep price for her disrupted journey. Her originally booked IndiGo return ticket for Rs 5,000 for December 5 was cancelled. To return home to Behala, she was forced to book a last-minute Air India seat for a staggering Rs 18,000.
Ironically, the episode marks a significant stumble for an airline whose brand was built on reliability. On-time performance (OTP) used to be a major unique selling proposition for IndiGo, attracting lakhs of passengers. In the past several days, however, the airline's OTP had plummeted from the high 90s to single digits. Saturday's operations indicated the beginning of a revival course with a marked improvement in OTP, a critical metric for regaining passenger trust.
The incident underscores the fragile nature of air travel logistics and the immediate, tangible impact operational failures have on the plans and finances of everyday passengers, even as airlines scramble to restore normalcy.
