SpiceJet blames bad weather for Kochi flight disruptions. Airport calls out airline - Kochi News | India Today

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) said on Saturday that no adverse weather conditions existed at Kochi airport that would have warranted the flight disruptions SpiceJet cited, and accused the airline of spreading misinformation through a social media advisory.

The dispute followed a SpiceJet social media post warning passengers that "all departures/arrivals and their consequential flights might be affected" due to bad weather in Kochi, and urging travellers to check flight status before travelling. CIAL said no other airline operating from Kochi had reported cancellations due to adverse weather during the same period. CIAL also said SpiceJet had persistent operational issues, particularly affecting its international services, which it said caused considerable inconvenience and uncertainty for passengers, stating "Despite the continuing passenger grievances, the issues have not been adequately addressed or rectified by the airline and have continued to worsen over the past few days," while adding that it had made maximum efforts to assist affected passengers.

SpiceJet clarified that the advisory was a precautionary measure and did not announce cancellations or a suspension of operations. A SpiceJet spokesperson said the airline issues such advisories to keep passengers and travel partners informed so they can plan accordingly, and expressed regret for any misunderstanding. The spokesperson confirmed no SpiceJet flights from Kochi were cancelled and that the airline operated its scheduled daily departures to Fujairah and Dubai the previous day.

Disputes of this kind surface when an airport operator's own account of conditions on the ground diverges publicly from an airline's passenger-facing advisory, leaving travellers with two conflicting versions of the same day's operations. Airports and airlines typically manage disruption messaging separately, so a mismatch between a carrier's precautionary notice and an airport's operational record becomes visible only when one side chooses to contest it publicly rather than resolve it privately.

What happens with SpiceJet's international services at Kochi over the coming days will show whether this was an isolated messaging dispute or a sign of deeper operational strain, since CIAL has already flagged unresolved passenger grievances tied to those routes.