20 Vistara flights delayed, cancelled at KIA in 2 days

BENGALURU: Since Monday, hundreds of passengers have been inconvenienced by long delays and flight cancellations by Vistara airline. According to sources, at least 20 flights, both coming to and leaving from Bengaluru, have been impacted by cancellations or delays of six hours or more. There are suggestions this chain of events has been triggered by an ongoing strike by Vistara pilots. A flier took to social media narrating his plight. He said he had been waiting since 6pm on Monday for his flight to take off, but it only did so at 8.25am the following day, after over 14 hours of waiting. During that period, passengers were made to deboard in the middle of the night and check in again.Other passengers who shared their experience with TOI also said the worst part was there were barely any staff members to inform or alert them about the problems and delays. At Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport, passengers were seen sprawled on sofas and chairs through the night after waiting for hours for their flights to arrive. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has asked the airline to submit information on the flights cancelled and delayed every day. The airline has also been asked to ensure that the stipulated facilities - such as advance information, option of refund, and compensation (if applicable) - are provided to passengers in cases of denied boarding or cancelled/delayed flight. A Vistara spokesperson said they've had a significant number of cancellations and delays all over the country in the past few days owing to various reasons, including crew unavailability. "We acknowledge and are deeply concerned by the inconvenience this has caused our customers. Our teams are working towards minimising the discomfort to customers. We've decided to temporarily reduce the number of flights we operate, to ensure adequate connectivity across our network. We've also deployed larger aircraft like our B787-9 Dreamliner and A321neo on select domestic routes to combine flights or accommodate more customers. Furthermore, we're offering alternative flight options or refunds to affected customers, as applicable. We're working towards stabilising the situation and will resume operating our regular capacity very soon,"