Flight Cancellations Infuriate Thousands Of SpiceJet Passengers

Wednesday, 17th December 2014 at 04:59am

The most dreaded scenario finally caught SpiceJet on Tuesday last week when more than half of its domestic operations suddenly went to a halt in a seemingly suspended animation, leaving many of its planes across the country's airports unable to take off.

As a result, thousands of stranded passengers in major airports across the country got infuriated as if it was the most agonizing experience of their lives.

SpiceJet has been buffeted by financial problems in recent years, from huge losses to mounting debts, which it was unable to even fuel its planes to fly.

It was partly the aviation ministry's fault, industry analysts asserted, as it allowed the troubled airline to operate despite knowing that it was financially bankrupt.

Tuesday's mass cancellations, the airline admitted, were due to its inability to buy jet fuel for dozens of planes that were scheduled to fly that day. The airline was reportedly able to operate just a handful of the 239 scheduled flights on Tuesday.

While some passengers were able to take their flight that day, albeit very late, many were unlucky as their flights were canceled altogether leaving them without a choice but express their frustration.

In Delhi, for example, only 3 out of 15 flights scheduled for that day were able to make it to their destinations.

In Mumbai, meanwhile, 9 flights (out of 15) which were scheduled for that day failed to set off, while 7 flights (out of 11) were unable to make it to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. The remaining six scheduled departure flights and 4 arrivals were delayed.

The same scenario occurred in other major airports around the country. The airline had 24 flights scheduled to set off from Hyderabad, but only 5 aircraft were able to get fuel and departed late into the evening.

Over in Pune, only three of the scheduled flights were operational and seven flights were canceled.

Bengaluru had over 1,000 angry passengers stranded at Kempegowda International Airport following the cancellation of 19 scheduled flights that day, while 17 flight arrivals were unable to make it.

Chennai seemed to have been hit hard by flight cancellations as only 6 out of the 31 scheduled departures were able to set off.

By: Pete Lee.