IndiGo crisis: Refunds worth ₹610 crore issued, more than 1,000 cancellations over weekend | Latest developments

IndiGo cancelled around 650, or almost 28%, of its daily 2,300 flights on Sunday and rescheduled several others amid operational disruptions.

Chaos continued for the sixth straight day on Sunday after IndiGo cancelled around 650 of its flights across the country and said that operations would only stabilise by December 10. Major airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata have suffered the most blow as they recorded the largest number of cancellations.

Passengers wait at Terminal 1 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport as IndiGo’s flight disruptions continue nationwide, in New Delhi. (ANI)

With similar figures seen on Saturday, the total number of cancellations over the weekend alone crossed 1,000. Mass cancellations and disruptions were seen before that too, with passengers getting stranded on airports.

Meanwhile, the airline also sought more time to respond to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)’s show cause notice to its CEO and accountable manager.

IndiGo also processed the pending refunds to passengers, amounting to ₹610 crore, over cancelled flights.

Here are the latest developments in the IndiGo crisis:

IndiGo flight status: Latest updates

• IndiGo cancelled around 650, or almost 28%, of its daily 2,300 flights on Sunday and rescheduled several others as it continues to deal with operational disruptions.
• Since Tuesday last week, the airline has cancelled more than 2,000 flights across the country. The operational disruptions have led to hundreds of flight cancellations and delays over the last few days, creating difficulties for thousands of passengers.
• IndiGo said in a statement on Sunday that it expects its network to stabilise by December 10, which is earlier than the previous estimated window of December 10 to 15.
• The airline also processed refunds to passengers totalling ₹610 crore and delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage across the country, the civil aviation ministry said in a press release. Notably, Sunday was the deadline set by the ministry for the airline to process passenger refunds.
• It also requested more time to respond to a show cause notice issued by the DGCA. In its reply, it asked for time until 6 pm on December 8 to respond.
• Later in the day, the DGCA granted IndiGo’s CEO and accountable manager a one-time extension of twenty-four hours to submit their response to the show cause notice.
• In its notice, the aviation regulator said the "primary cause" of the disruption was IndiGo’s failure to make "adequate arrangements" to meet the revised staffing, duty time and rostering requirements under the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules.