IndiGo Airline Recovers from Massive Flight Cancellation Crisis, CEO Confirms Operations Now Stable

The IndiGo airline, which caused a significant crisis with nationwide flight cancellations for days, is "back on its feet," according to Chief Executive Officer Pieter Albers' statement today. He also expressed gratitude to customers for "accepting our apology" and continuing to book flights with the airline.

"Your airline, IndiGo, is back on its feet and our operations are stable. We have let you down when a major operational disruption happened and we are sorry for that," he stated.

Albers noted that on December 5, IndiGo operated only 700 flights. "Thereafter, gradually yet steadily, improving to 1,500 on December 6, 1,650 on 7, 1,800 yesterday and today more than 1,800. As of yesterday, we are back to flying to all our 138 destinations in our network and our on-time performance has also been normalized," he explained.

"While we cannot undo the cancellations, I want to reassure that ever since our entire Indigo team has been working very hard," he continued, detailing that the airline has been taking care of stranded passengers, providing refunds for cancelled tickets without questions, and returning luggage to their rightful owners.

He mentioned that with the immediate crisis addressed, the airline has begun to "focus internally on what has led to this, lessons learned to be drawn and how to emerge stronger from this."

Meanwhile, the government has initiated action against the airline for the airport chaos - the cancellation of hundreds of flights that left thousands of passengers stranded.

Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu informed parliament today that no airline, regardless of size, will be permitted to cause hardship to passengers, and safety remains non-negotiable.

The aviation regulator DGCA has issued showcause notices to IndiGo's leadership and launched an investigation. "Depending on the outcome, strict and appropriate action as empowered under the aircraft rules and Act will be taken," he stated.

Naidu added that IndiGo had promised full compliance when the DGCA planned to implement flight duty time limitations - designed to prevent pilot fatigue and enhance passenger safety - in phases. The timeline was phase 1 from July 1, and phase 2 from November 1.

However, despite IndiGo's assurances, "prima facie, it was observed that internal rostering disruptions led to large-scale cancellations and inconvenience to thousands of passengers," the minister concluded.