Trinamool MP Saket Gokhale writes to DGCA over IndiGo flight delays, seeks action taken report in 7 days

New Delhi, Jan 5 (IANS) TMC Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale on Friday wrote a letter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) regarding the delayed arrival of an IndiGo pilot, causing disruptions in flight operations at Delhi's IGI Airport while claiming this incident is not an "isolated occurrence".

The letter sent to DGCA Director General, Vikram Dev Dutt, said that the TMC MP was personally travelling by IndiGo on Thursday from Delhi to Ahmedabad via an IndiGo flight 6E 2001 scheduled to depart at 5:55 hrs.

"After boarding the plane, all passengers suddenly received an e-mail and SMS notification from IndiGo, stating that the flight was delayed and would now depart at 6:25 hrs," the letter added.

On enquiring with the cabin crew, Gokhale was informed that the flight was delayed because they were waiting for one of the pilots to report for duty to the aircraft.

"This was true because one of the pilots finally showed by at 6:10 hrs to the aircraft," the letter said.

"This, unfortunately, is not an isolated incident. A mere glance at social media platforms, including 'X' shows hundreds of complaints by passengers about their IndiGo flights being delayed because the cockpit crew was not available on time. This has also been highlighted by several MPs on their social media. Despite this, there has been no statement from IndiGo," said Gokhale.

The MP claimed that he almost missed his connecting flight from Ahmedabad due to this delay caused by IndiGo airlines.

"Through this D.O., you're requested to urgently issue a showcause notice to the IndiGo airline regarding this issue of flight delays due to unavailability of flight crew and to initiate appropriate action at the earliest to resolve this," Gokhale wrote.

"In light of the above and through this D.O., you're requested to apprise the undersigned MP about the details of the action taken in this matter in not more than seven days from the receipt of this communication as it pertains to a matter of urgent public interest," the letter added.

However, IndiGo has yet to issue a statement.