‘Wish They Came Back’: Why Jet Airways, Kingfisher Are Trending in India

The chaos that has gripped IndiGo, India's largest carrier in terms of market capitalisation, has led to some netizens recalling now-grounded flight operators like Jet Airways and Kingfisher.

"Wish they came back," one of the users commented on social media platform X, claiming that the two former airlines had a significant on-time performance rate.

Notably, the country's civil aviation sector plunged into chaos this week, as hundreds of IndiGo flights were cancelled due to constraints emerging from the new rostering norms.

The busy routes of Delhi-Bengaluru and Delhi-Mumbai are reported to be the worst-affected due to the cancellations.

On social media, netizens fumed, as they expressed the need to bring in more players in the domestic aviation sector. A number of X users recalled the "efficiency" demonstrated by Jet Airways and Kingfisher when they were operational.

"It appears that IndiGo's current approach involves increasing pilot workload while reducing rest periods. We require airlines, such as the former Jet Airways and Kingfisher, that demonstrably prioritized both passenger safety and comfort," said an X user, identified as Rajni.

"We need airlines like Jet Airways and Kingfisher... which actually prioritised passenger safety and comfort (sic)," added another user, identified as Trupti Garg.

Several other netizens also marked their angst against IndiGo, blaming the airlines for the chaos that has erupted at various airports due to the flight cancellations.

Notably, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has taken urgent measures to address the ongoing disruption in flight schedules. The flight duty time limitations orders of the DGCA have been paused with immediate effect, according to an official release.

The ministry went on to say that this decision has been taken without compromising on air safety, but has been taken solely in the interest of passengers, especially senior citizens, students, patients, and others who rely on timely air travel for essential needs.

The Government of India has also decided to carry out a high-level inquiry into this disruption. The inquiry will examine what went wrong at Indigo, determine accountability wherever required for actions, and recommend measures to prevent similar disruptions in the future.