IndiGo flight status highlights: Indigo chairman apologises, cites reasons for disruptions

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Taking serious note of large-scale passenger inconvenience faced by passengers due to widespread flight cancellations and delays by IndiGo Airlines in recent days, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has constituted a dedicated Oversight Team to be stationed at the airline's corporate office in Gurugram.

In an internal order issued today, the aviation regulator stated that the move was necessitated "in view of passenger inconvenience caused due to large-scale disruptions in the operations of IndiGo Airlines at various airports across the country."

The eight-member team is headed by Capt. Vikram Sharma, Deputy Chief Flight Operations Inspector (Airlines). Other members include Capt. Kapil Mangalik, SFOI(A); Capt VP Singh, SFOI(A); Capt. Apoorva Agarwal, SFOI(A); Capt. Swati Loomba, SFOI(A) , Capt. Aman Suhag, SFOI(A); Capt. Nitya Jain, FOI(A) ,Capt NJ Singh, FOI(A).

(PTI)

IndiGo said on Wednesday that it has reduced its capacity and passenger unit revenue forecast for the third quarter, following the civil aviation regulator's directive to the carrier to cut 10% of its domestic winter schedule due to mass flight cancellations.

The airline said it now expects its third-quarter capacity to grow in "high single to early double-digit percentage", down from the earlier forecast of growth in "high teens."

It expects passenger unit revenue for the third quarter to be impacted by a "mid-single digit percentage downward moderation" versus the earlier forecast of flat to slight growth.

(Reuters)

1. Check Flight Status – Use IndiGo’s website or app under “Manage Booking” with your PNR to confirm if your flight is cancelled.

2. Choose an option – Decide whether to claim a full refund or rebook on the next available flight at no extra cost.

3. Submit refund request – Fill in details on IndiGo’s refund page (PNR, email, passenger info) and submit.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has consituted a special oversight team at IndiGo's Gurugram office, in view of the recent flight disruptions which have rocked the airline.

In an internal order issued Wednesday, the aviation regulator said the move was taken "in view of passenger inconvenience caused due to large-scale disruptions in the operations of IndiGo Airlines at various airports across the country", ANI news agency reported.

The eight-member team will be headed by Capt. Vikram Sharma, Deputy Chief Flight Operations Inspector (Airlines).

Indigo chairman Vikram Singh Mehta has addressed claims surrounding flight disruptions over the past week. Singh said that some allegations, including ones suggesting that “Indigo engineered the crisis” and “tried to influence government rules” were false.

“That we compromised safety. That the Board was not involved. These claims are incorrect,” Mehta said in a video message on X.

“Indigo has followed the pilot fatigue rules as they came into effect. We operated under the new rules throughout, both in July and in November. We did not attempt to bypass them, nor did we do anything that negatively impacted our unblemished track record of safety,” he added.

Civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Wednesday said that even as Indigo flight operations across the country are returning to normal, the ministry is overseeing the operations through its control room.

“A regular vigil is being maintained for real-time resolution of passenger grievances and the Control Room team is making all efforts to further enhance response time for prompt and effective redressal of passenger concerns,” Naidu said.

“Passengers facing any issue may seek assistance by tagging @MoCA_GoI on X, contacting the Ministry’s Control Room at 011-24604283 / 011-24632987 or by registering their grievance on the AirSewa App/Web Portal,” the minister added in a post on X.

IndiGo chairman Vikram Singh Mehta on Wednesday apologised for the disruptions in the airline's operations and said that its board will examine every aspect of "what went wrong".

"On December 3, an unexpected chain of events led to large-scale flight cancellations ... Thousands of our passengers were left stranded ... I know how much distress this has caused. I want to say very simply and very clearly, we are sorry," Mehta said.

"We did not meet your expectations during those days. And for that, we are truly, truly sorry," he added.

Over the past week, there has been a lot of criticism, "some fair, some not," Mehta said.

"The fair criticism is that the airline let you down. We owe answers to our customers, to our government, to our shareholders and, equally importantly, to our employees. We assure you that we will examine every aspect of what went wrong and we will learn from it," he added.

Senior officials of the DGCA will carry out on-site inspections across 11 domestic airports in the next two to three days to assess various aspects of IndiGo's operations amid large-scale disruptions.

The 11 airports include Nagpur, Jaipur, Bhopal, Surat, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Shirdi, Cochin, Lucknow, Amritsar and Dehradun, news agency PTI reported.

All assigned officers will visit their respective airports within the next 2-3 days, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its order.

IndiGo has submitted its revised flight schedule to the aviation watchdog DGCA, after the government ordered the airline to curtail its winter schedule by 10 per cent.

The airline was directed by the DGCA to submit the revised schedule by 5 pm on Wednesday.

"IndiGo has submitted the revised winter schedule to the DGCA as per its Tuesday order," news agency PTI reported, citing a source.

Sena UBT leader Arvind Sawant, speaking to news agency ANI about the IndiGo flight disruptions, said, "The condition of all passengers on the IndiGo flight was very bad. Other flights benefited from all this because they increased the fares... The seriousness of what happened should be thoroughly investigated."

Flight operations at Jammu airport have remained stable and minimally affected during the ongoing IndiGo flight cancellations and delays reported across the country, news agency PTI reported, citing a senior official on Wednesday.

Jammu airport director Devender Yadav said no security issues, medical emergencies, or left-behind baggage cases were reported during the IndiGo flight disruptions.

"Despite disruptions at various airports across the country, Jammu Airport remained stable due to strong teamwork and proactive coordination among all agencies. Our priority was to ensure passenger comfort, safety, and clear communication at every step," he said here.

He added that flight operations stabilised from December 6, though cancellations continued, three each on December 6, 7 and 8, and two on December 9, and one on December 10.

Samajwadi Party MP Awadhesh Prasad, speaking to news agency ANI on the IndiGo flight cancellations, said, "This was a very big crisis in front of the country. Many people wanted to carry out their air travel, but unfortunately, no meaningful step was taken by the government on this."

After inspection the situation at Chennai airport, Ambuj Sharma, deputy secretary of civil aviation ministry, told reporters, "IndiGo issue is swiftly being resolved, only 44 baggages are yet to be received."

A senior official on Wednesday reportedly claimed that amid the ongoing IndiGo disruptions, the situation at Patna's Jay Prakash Narayan International Airport (JPNI) is

"normal", adding that all of the concerns of the affected passengers were addressed.

Ten flights to and from Patna have been cancelled on Wednesday, airport director Chandra Pratap Dwivedi was cited as saying by news agency PTI.

However, he did not elaborate whether all these cancelled flights belonged to IndiGo.

Two members of the DGCA's Oversight Team will be permanently stationed at IndiGo's corporate office in Haryana's Gurugram.

These officers will, on a daily basis, look into:

• Total fleet
• Average Stage length
• Total number of pilots
• Network details
• Crew utilisation in hours
• Monthly/Daily Dead Heading
• Crew under training
• Split Duties
• All unplanned leaves per day
• Flights per day and available crew
• Total number of sectors affected on account of crew shortage
• Standby Crew per day and per base

The eight senior Flight Operations Inspectors in the DGCA's Oversight Team to monitor IndiGo's operations are:

-Capt. Vikram Sharma, Dy, CFOI(A)

-Capt. Kapil Mangalik, SFOI(A)

-Capt. V.P Singh, SFOI(A)

-Capt. Apoorva Agarwal, SFOI(A)

-Capt. Swati Loomba, SFOI(A)

-Capt. Aman Suhag, SFOI(A)

-Capt. Nitya Jain, FOI(A)

-Capt. N.J Singh FOI(A)

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has formed an Oversight Team to monitor IndiGo's operations.

The panel consists of eight senior Flight Operations Inspectors, and of these, two officers will be permanently stationed at IndiGo's corporate office in Gurgaon.

IndiGo on Wednesday cancelled nearly 220 flights at three major airports, despite CEO Pieter Elber's claim that the airline's operations were back on track.

Of the 220 cancelled flights, 137 were at Delhi airport, 21 at Mumbai airport and 61 at Bengaluru airport.

The Delhi airport shared an update amid the ongoing IndiGo disruptions and said, "We are pleased to inform all travelers that Delhi Airport operations are running smoothly and on schedule across all terminals. Flight arrivals and departures are proceeding as planned. Passengers can continue with their travel plans confidently."

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, while speaking to news agency ANI, said that the ongoing IndiGo disruption is a "collective failure on the part of the airline, the DGCA and the government".

"The DGCA gave a directive about flying crew rest time. But the airline knew about this well in advance. They should have built capacity by recruiting more pilots and flying crew to meet that new directive. The DGCA should have monitored the airline to see whether they're actually recruiting people," he added.

Karti further said, "They had enough time to recruit it. There was no monitoring by the DGCA. And secondly, when the airline applied for extra 500 routes during the winter schedule, they gave them permission without asking them the crucial question whether they have the capacity to cater to this new demand... So it's a collective failure of the management of IndiGo, of the DGCA and the ministry."

IndiGo flight status LIVE Updates: Hearing a PIL filed regarding the ongoing IndiGo crisis, the Delhi High court rapped the Centre for its delayed action.

Citing the actions taken against the airlines, the court said blamed the government for taking action only after the mass cancellations had begun.

“You have done all this only after the crisis precipitated, what did you do to ensure that such a crisis does not precipitate? You had in 2024 made provisions for duty period, rest period etc.. after the disposal of the matter these were to be implemented in a phased manner.. The rest period had to be implemented.. IN CASE ANY AIRLINE FAILED TO DO SO, WHAT IS THE PROVISION AVAILABLE TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE AIRLINE… WHAT ACTION COULD YOU TAKE AGAINST THEM FOR NOT ADHERING TO THE REST PERIOD … this is all which we expected from you…,” the bench said.

IndiGo flight status LIVE updates: IndiGo on Wednesday cancelled over 60 flights from Bengaluru Airport, despite Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers claiming on Tuesday that the airline's operations were back on track.

IndiGo has cancelled 61 flights on Wednesday, including 35 arrivals and 26 departures, airport sources have said.

IndiGo flight disruptions LIVE updates: The DGCA has summoned the airline's CEO to appear before it tomorrow at 4 pm and present comprehensive data and updates relating to recent operational disruptions.

IndiGo flight status LIVE updates: The airports where the DGCA will conduct on-side inspections include Nagpur, Jaipur, Bhopal, Surat, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Shirdi, Cochin, Lucknow, Amritsar and Dehradun. The aviation regulator has directed its officers to visit the airports within two to three days and submit a comprehensive report within 24 hours.