The Northern and Western Railway have added extra coaches to key trains amid IndiGo flight cancellations.
The Northern Railway on Friday announced that it was adding an additional coach in the Rajdhani Express operating between Jammu and Delhi beginning Friday for the next seven days amid the ongoing air traffic disruptions due to the cancellation of multiple IndiGo flights.
On Friday morning, IndiGo cancelled 10 of its 18 flights in Srinagar and seven of nine flights in Jammu.
Senior Railways officials in Jammu said that the decision has been taken to facilitate stranded passengers.
“In the wake of the ongoing flight disruptions, the Indian Railways has taken an important decision to augment one 3rd AC coach of 72 seats in the Jammu-New Delhi Rajdhani for the next seven days, beginning tonight (December 5),” a senior Railways official said, adding that stranded passengers can avail of this facility by booking seats in the additional coach.
Meanwhile, chaos prevailed at Jammu airport as a large number of passengers, who were left stranded there following IndiGo flight cancellations, held a protest accusing the airline of not responding to their distress calls.
As of noon on Friday, nearly 500 flights scheduled for the day are estimated to have been cancelled, with all domestic departures from Delhi — IndiGo’s largest hub — cancelled till midnight.
According to the flight schedule data, IndiGo operates nearly 230 domestic flights a day from the Delhi airport. Flight cancellations and delays are also mounting at other major airports, including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Ahmedabad.
On Thursday, the carrier that dominates the Indian skies with a market share of over 60%, had informed the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that more flight cancellations could be expected over the next two to three days as part of its schedule stabilisation efforts.
