Simon Wong, Singapore’s High Commissioner to India, who was scheduled to attend a staff wedding in Jharkhand’s Deoghar, joined the list of passengers stranded due to the sudden cancellation of an IndiGo flight. This is because all departures from Delhi have been canceled till 11.59pm on Friday.
Earlier in the day, more than 500 flights were canceled as the IndiGo chaos entered its fourth day. The worst affected airports were Delhi and Chennai. In Delhi, all departures are canceled for today, while in the Tamil Nadu capital, flights remain canceled till 6:00 PM.
In four days, the number of canceled flights exceeded 1,000, stranding passengers at airports and disrupting travel plans.
The Singaporean envoy shared his experience on social media X, apologizing to the young staffer for not being able to attend his wedding, saying he was “speechless”.
“Joining tens of thousands of passengers stranded in #Indigo. My flight to #Deoghar has been cancelled. My sincere apologies to my young staff waiting for me to attend his #shaadi. Lost for words.🤦♂️ HC Wong,” he wrote.
Wong shared a screenshot on social media showing a message from IndiGo informing him of the cancellation of his flight from Delhi to Deoghar due to the airline’s continued operational outages.
In a statement, IndiGo apologized for the inconvenience and confirmed that full refunds would be processed within 3-5 days and asked passengers to be patient as the airline works to support all affected customers.
Latest information on IndiGo crises
IndiGo has informed aviation regulator DGCA that it expects operations to be fully stabilized by February 10 next year. Over the last three days, airports across India have witnessed huge crowds of IndiGo passengers as several flights have been delayed and many others have been cancelled. Delhi was worst hit on Friday with 225 cancellations, followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru with just over 100 each and Hyderabad recording 92 cancellations.
The disruptions were largely attributed to the new flight service norms that came into effect on November 1, as well as IndiGo’s challenges in implementing the second phase of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules. Updated regulations limit pilot hours at night, while airline demand for pilot-in-command continues to grow.
IndiGo has apologized twice and expressed regret for the ongoing delays and cancellations. According to HT, the airline has assured the DGCA that full resumption of operations is expected by February 10.
