IndiGo flight cancellations highlights: IndiGo granted extension till 6 pm on Monday to respond to DGCA's notice

Indigo flights cancelled flights highlights: Passengers with their luggage stranded at a Indigo Airlines Ticketing counter at T-1 Terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in New Delhi.

IndiGo flights cancelled highlights: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Sunday said it granted IndiGo CEO an extension to submit its response to the show-cause notice issued to the airline on Saturday over massive disruptions in flight operations. The domestic carrier, which continues to face widespread disruptions on Day-6, has time till 6 pm on Monday to respond to DGCA's notice.

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The airline processed refunds totalling ₹610 crore so far against cancelled or severely delayed flights, and delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage to passengers across the country as of Saturday. The move comes after the Ministry of Civil Aviation asked the airline to process refunds and baggage by 8 pm on Sunday.

IndiGo said it is operating 1,650 flights of its 2,300 daily domestic and international flights on Sunday, and 650 remain cancelled for the day, amid the airline's operations gradually stabilising after massive disruptions in the last five days.

On Sunday, 115 flights were cancelled at Hyderabad airport, 112 at Mumbai airport, 109 in Delhi, 38 in Chennai and 11 in Amritsar. Since Tuesday, IndiGo has cancelled more than 2,000 flights and delayed many others while leaving passengers stranded at the airports.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a show cause notice to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers after the massive flight disruptions over the past few days became the country’s worst aviation crisis in years.

Meanwhile, the civil aviation ministry on Saturday directed the airline to clear all pending refunds to passengers impacted by flight cancellations by 8 pm on December 7 (Sunday). The ministry also stepped in and imposed fare caps on domestic flights after airfares rose sharply between destinations in the country as stranded passengers looked for alternatives.

IndiGo flights cancellation live | Key points

• A total of 650 flights have been cancelled on Sunday, with Hyderabad alone reporting 115 flight cancellations and Mumbai reporting 112 cancellations, PTI reported.
• In its latest statement, IndiGo said that it is establishing “further significant and sustained improvements across our network”. The airline said that it expects operations to stabilise by December 10.
• In a statement, IndiGo earlier said that it has formed a crisis management group (CMG) to monitor the crisis. It added that it is ‘doing everything possible’ to take care of the challenges faced by the passengers.
• In its notice on Saturday, aviation watchdog DGCA held IndiGo CEO accountable for “significant lapses in planning, oversight, and resource management”. It gave him 24 hours to explain why enforcement action should not be initiated for violations.
• With IndiGo’s flight disruptions affecting thousands of passengers, the civil aviation ministry on Saturday asked the airline to clear issuing refunds for the cancelled flights by Sunday evening. The ministry also told IndiGo to make sure that any baggage separated from travellers is returned within the next two days.
• The ministry also invoked its regulatory powers and issued an order for airfare caps amid IndiGo crisis that had pushed air ticket prices higher in many routes. These limits will stay in place until the situation returns to normal.
• For five days in a row, IndiGo witnessed massive operational disruptions with hundreds of flight cancellations and delays, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded.
• These disruptions were a result of the transition to the second phase of new flight duty and rest period norms for pilots. However, the airline has now secured temporary relief from the DGCA and is allowing pilots to do six landings in a night.
• IndiGo said that it operated 1,500 flights on Saturday. It added that over 95 per cent of network connectivity has already been re-established while apologising for the disruptions once again.