An IndiGo Airlines A320 aircraft is parked on the tarmac at Bengaluru International Airport in Bangalore.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
The Karnataka bandh called by pro-Kannada outfits did not cause disruptions to services, sources at the airport said.
However, a total of 44 domestic flights – 22 inbound and 22 outbound and a majority of them operated by IndiGo – were cancelled by the airlines, an airport source told DH. According to the source, this was not an unusual phenomenon, as over 600 flights were still operational and many passengers had arrived well ahead of their scheduled departures.
“There are usually 2-3% of flight cancellations and recalibrations on a regular day. Today (Friday), we have less than 7% of cancellations; so it is nothing out of the ordinary,” the source said.
A check of the flight information on the airport’s website revealed that the number of flight cancellations was higher. Twenty-four inbound flights that were to arrive at the airport by 11.45 pm and 30 flights outbound flights from the airport were cancelled. The majority of the cancellations were from IndiGo – at least 16 inbound and 20 outbound flights.
Without confirming the number of flights cancelled, a source at IndiGo attributed the cancellations to “operational reasons”.
The operators of KIA and some of the airlines had, on Thursday, asked passengers to plan for possible disruptions in public transport services to KIA and reach the airport well ahead of the scheduled departures.