The restrictions imposed by Delhi Police on Wednesday on traffic movement across the National Capital Region and sealing of Delhi borders at NH 48, MG Road and old Delhi-Gurugram road impacted several flights operating to or from Delhi airport.
The largest domestic airline IndiGo had to cancel 19 flights, primarily because its crew got stuck in traffic jams and could not make it on time to the airport, sources close to the development said, adding that as many as 16 flights were delayed at Delhi airport till 3 PM because of the same reason.
Similarly, many passengers have also missed their flights because of getting stuck in massive traffic jams.
Airlines like Vistara, IndiGo and Air India, GoAir, AirAsia have come forward to offer free cancellation and rescheduling to all those passengers who are booked on flights for Wednesday.
Vistara has offered a free seat on the next available Vistara flight, as per availability, to all those passengers who have missed flights.
IndiGo has rescheduled and curtailed its schedule in and out of Delhi by approximately 20 departures because of the ongoing situation in Delhi. It is also blocking hotel rooms near the airport to keep the crew ready to be deployed at short notice.
So far, GoAir is the only airline to offer fee waiver on rescheduling or cancellations to passengers travelling to or from Delhi for 2 days, i.e, December 19 and December 20.
While Air India has not cancelled any flight till now, eight flights of Air India have been delayed by 20 to 100 minutes.
As of now, 20 metro stations including the ones with maximum footfalls like Mandi House, Central Secretariat remain closed, several roads are blocked and it remains to be seen when will normal traffic movement resume.