Passengers look at the information display board as many IndiGo flight services stand cancelled at the Indira Gandhi International Airport Terminal 3, in New Delhi on Sunday.
IndiGo’s flight disruptions continued to affect travel plans across the country on Sunday as the airline operated around 1,650 flights, compared with an average of 2,300 daily services before the crisis.
On Saturday, the airline flew around 1,500 flights. It said that services were resumed to and from 137 out of 138 destinations in its network.
The airline said its on-time performance had risen to 75 per cent from 30 per cent reported on Saturday, and that a full waiver on cancellations and reschedule requests had been implemented for bookings till December 15, 2025.
IndiGo pointed out that since the current cancellations were made at an earlier stage, it allowed the carrier to inform customers in a timelier manner.
According to the airline’s Chief Executive Officer Pieter Elbers, “In my earlier messages, I conveyed we would be rebooting the system Friday, take a significant number of cancellations and start afresh Saturday. That has worked well, by operating some 1,500 flights yesterday, as compared to only 700-ish on Friday.”
“Also, we have been able to execute the cancellations at an earlier stage, so customers don’t show up at the airports in case their flights are cancelled. It gives us all confidence that we are getting back.”
Large-scale disruption
The Centre has issued a showcause notice to Elbers following the large-scale disruption of flights. He has been asked to respond within 24 hours on why no appropriate enforcement action should be taken against him for violation of the rules.
Besides, IndiGo said that its Board of Directors have already set up a Crisis Management Group (CMG) comprising, amongst others, the Chairman, Vikram Singh Mehta, Board Directors, Gregg Saretsky, Mike Whitaker and Amitabh Kant and Elbers.
“This group has been meeting regularly to monitor the situation and is being constantly updated by the management of the measures being undertaken to restore normal operations,” an IndiGo spokesperson said.
On its part, the Centre said that air travel operations across the country are stabilising at a fast pace.
Apart from this, all other domestic airlines, said the ministry, are operating smoothly and at full capacity, while IndiGo’s performance has shown steady improvement, with flight schedules moving back towards normal levels.
IndiGo’s flight operations have increased from 706 on December 5 to 1,565 on December 6 and are likely to reach up to 1,650 by the end of Sunday.
Financial protection
To ensure financial protection for passengers, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) issued strict directives to IndiGo requiring that all refunds for cancelled or severely delayed flights be completed by 8pm on Sunday.
Accordingly, IndiGo has so far processed refunds totalling Rs 610 crore.
No additional fees are permitted for rescheduling travel impacted by cancellations.
The Ministry has also instructed IndiGo to trace and deliver all baggage separated from passengers due to disruptions within 48 hours.
Furthermore, IndiGo has delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage to passengers across India as of Saturday.
Meanwhile, passengers continue to suffer at airports around the country. At Hyderabad airport, IndiGo cancelled 61 departures and 54 arrivals.
Additionally, IndiGo cancelled 151 flights on Sunday from Bengaluru (arrival — 76, departure — 75). This follows 165 cancellations on Saturday (arrival — 86, departure — 79).
On the other hand, after two days of commotion due to the IndiGo flight cancellations, things were calm at the Chennai airport.
However, as of Sunday 8.30 pm, a total of 49 arrivals and 42 departures were cancelled, said Chennai airport sources.
In addition, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has written to multiple airlines over alleged violations of the MoCA’s order which capped maximum fares stage-length wise for all domestic carriers.
As per DGCA, the regulator has observed non-compliance based on fare listings displayed on airline websites.
Notably, Air India and SpiceJet have been asked to provide proper justification for the non-compliance by 12 pm on December 8.
Published on December 7, 2025
