Several passengers travelling from Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) were inconvenienced on Tuesday as some flights of Indigo and GoAir airlines were grounded owing to safety reasons by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Some flights had been grounded on Monday in several parts of the country.
Even though the airlines made attempts to accommodate people on other flights, passengers had to bear with changes in their travel schedule and long hours of waiting.
A regular traveller from Bengaluru, who was supposed to travel to Hyderabad in the morning, claimed that IndiGo booked him on an earlier flight.
Ravi, a cab driver, reported a drop in bookings owing to cancellation of certain flights.
Mohit Gupta, COO, MakeMyTrip, said, "While it is early to predict the impact on fares, the grounding of aircraft is likely to impact approximately 60 flights. We are working closely with the airlines for rescheduling and accommodating existing bookings in order to minimise the impact on our customers."
Both the airlines, in their statements, said they were complying with the DGCA directive.
GoAir stated: "GoAir has complied with the DGCA directive by grounding the late serial number PW GTF engines. This has resulted in the cancellation of some flights originating out of 8 centres... We are working round the clock to alleviate the inconvenience caused to our valued customers."
IndiGo’s statement read: "We are in receipt of the communication from the DGCA and we shall promptly comply with the directions of the DGCA. Upon implementation of the directive, IndiGo shall have a total of nine A320neo aircraft on ground. The affected passengers would be accommodated on other flights on our network."
