Indian authorities take urgent measures to mitigate disruption in flights

NEW DELHI, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation took on Friday several urgent and proactive measures to address the ongoing disruption in flight schedules as more than 1,400 flights of Indigo Airlines got canceled or delayed in last four days.
A statement from the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation said that several measures including placing the Flight Duty Time Limitations by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in abeyance with immediate effect to mitigate sufferings of air passengers stranded in different airports across the country.
The move came as Indigo Airlines with more than 60% of market share and cheaper tickets canceled or delayed more than 1400 flights in the last four days causing huge sufferings to passengers and chaos in airports. "Without compromising on air safety, this decision has been taken solely in the interest of passengers, especially senior citizens, students, patients, and others who rely on timely air travel for essential needs," the ministry said. The Aviation authorities also instructed airlines to ensure that normal airline services are restored in the earliest. "We expect that flight schedules will begin to stabilise and return to normal by tomorrow. We anticipate that complete restoration of services will be achieved within the next three days," the statement said. Airlines have been instructed to provide regular and accurate updates, issue full refunds automatically in case of flight cancellations and provide hotel accommodation to stranded passengers.
The central government has also decided to institute a high-level inquiry into this issue to examine what went wrong at Indigo, determine accountability and recommend measures to prevent similar disruptions in the future. (end) atk.rk