IndiGo flight cancellations have have also led to a sharp decline in hotel, restaurant, banquet, and resort bookings, with thousands of reservations being cancelled.
IndiGo crisis: IndiGo flight cancellations, which has crippled domestic air travel since December 1, has resulted in significant losses to the trade, tourism and exhibition sectors in Delhi.
How much losses did Delhi suffer?
In a statement issued Wednesday, Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) stated that widespread flight cancellations by IndiGo disrupted the movement of visitors in Delhi, resulting in an estimated loss of Rs 1000 crore across various in the national capital, including trade, industry, tourism and exhibition.
As per the CTI, a 25 percent decline in footfall was witnessed at major markets across the city due to the IndiGo flight cancellations over the past ten days. “Every day, more than 1.5 lakh people travel through Delhi Airport, of which nearly 50 thousand are traders and businessmen,” CTI Chairman Brijesh Goyal said in the statement.
Goyal noted that the number of traders arriving in Delhi has drastically reduced due to the ongoing news of flight cancellations, directly impacting business activity in the city, adding that the past week had been “dreadful for IndiGo” and distressing for both tourists and business visitors.
Delhi tourism hit due to IndiGo cancellations?
According to the CTI, IndiGo’s flight cancellations have have also led to a sharp decline in hotel, restaurant, banquet, and resort bookings, with thousands of reservations being cancelled.
In the statement, Manoj Khandelwal, Director of Manoj Travels, said the peak tourism season in Delhi, usually lasting until mid-January, has been severely impacted, with advance bookings for Christmas and New Year’s travel already showing signs of being affected.
The market association urged the authorities to ensure smooth travel operations and mitigate the ongoing fallout from the cancellations across multiple sectors.
The CTI, an umbrella body representing Delhi’s market associations, said that more than 4,000 IndiGo flights have been cancelled since December 1, causing significant disruption to travel plans.
IndiGo has been facing operational disruptions for more than one week after DGCA’s new crew rostering rule came into effect allowing increased rest periods for pilots and other staff, resulting in hundreds of flight cancellations and delays.
