AHMEDABAD: A Indigo flight travelling from Medina to Hyderabad was forced to make an emergency landing in Ahmedabad on Thursday following a suspected bomb threat, airport officials said.The flight had 180 passengers and 6 crew members, airport sources told news agency ANI.
The scare comes as lakhs of passengers across India face unprecedented flight delays and cancellations, primarily due to a pilot shortage at IndiGo, the country’s largest airline by market share.IndiGo has cancelled more than 200 flights a day this week, after days of triple-digit cancellations. On Tuesday, the airline’s on-time performance slumped to 35%, the lowest among all scheduled carriers in India. Some passengers have reported waiting up to 10 hours at airports.The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has summoned IndiGo’s senior management, demanding an explanation for what it called “unprecedented disruptions”. Officials say the regulator is examining corrective measures for the peak travel season, when India is recording over five lakh domestic passengers daily.IndiGo said it had initiated “calibrated adjustments” — flight cuts expected to continue for at least 48 hours — to stabilise operations. Industry sources say new crew-duty rules introduced in November have intensified the airline’s staffing crunch, with 62% of last month’s 1,232 IndiGo cancellations attributed to “crew constraints”.Fares have surged sharply as a result. One-way Delhi–Bengaluru economy tickets for Friday and Saturday were listed between Rs 11,000 and Rs 43,000, while Mumbai–Kolkata fares ranged from Rs 8,000 to Rs 19,000.Major airports — including Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru — have reported heavy congestion, with Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport alone expecting more than 30 outbound cancellations on Thursday. Passengers there have complained of being stranded for over 12 hours overnight, with repeated assurances of “crew coming soon”.Hyderabad airport authorities said delays were limited to IndiGo operations and that overall airport functioning remained normal.Meanwhile, security agencies in Ahmedabad continue to investigate the threat to the Madina–Hyderabad flight.
