80 flights to and from Delhi cancelled as domestic flights resume today

New Delhi: India domestic flights resume: Chaos and confusion prevailed across several airports while New Delhi and Bengaluru registered several cancellations as domestic flights took to the skies after a gap of two months on Monday.

Of the approximately 380 flights that were scheduled for today in the national capital, 82 (both departures and arrivals) were already cancelled by afternoon. As many as 20 flights were also called off in Bengaluru.

Indigo flight 6E643 was the first aircraft of the day to take off from Delhi airport this morning, according to news agency PTI. Those who boarded the first flight included paramilitary personnel, army men, students and migrants who failed to book a ticket on special trains being run by the railways.

The resumption of air travel came with a few hiccups in the first few hours itself as several flyers took to social media to register their grievances against airlines, particularly Air India. By 10 am, several took to Twitter to accuse the national carrier of either cancelling without any prior notice or goofing up departure schedules.

“We just came back from the airport. Our flight was not on the list. Despite that, Air India is showing our flight on time. Helpline numbers and live chat sessions our not available at the moment,” Ruchi Chatterjee posted on Twitter.

“My flight AI 515 from Hyderabad to Bengaluru got cancelled without prior notice, and in your website it still shows it’s on time,'” another passenger Mujeeb complained on the micro-blogging site.

Some claimed that the national carrier informed passengers of cancellations after they had reached the airport.

“Absolutely horrible from @airindiain. They told me the flight has been cancelled after I reached the airport saying that we can only notify two hours before the take off. How does this make sense when government is asking us to reach the airport two hours in advance?” Neelabh Pandey said.