Passengers look at the information board as many IndiGo flight services are canceled at Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Sunday.
IndiGo’s flight disruptions continued to impact travel plans across the country on Sunday as the airline operated around 1,650 flights compared to an average of 2,300 daily flights before the crisis.
The airline flew around 1,500 flights on Saturday. It said connections to and from 137 of 138 destinations on its network had been resumed.
The airline said its on-time performance increased to 75 percent from 30 percent on Saturday and that a complete waiver of cancellations and rebooking requests had been introduced for bookings through December 15, 2025.
IndiGo noted that the current cancellations occurred earlier and this enabled the carrier to inform customers in a timely manner.
Pieter Elbers, the airline’s chief executive officer, said: “In my previous messages I advised that we would restart the system on Friday, take a significant number of cancellations and start again on Saturday. This worked well, with around 1,500 flights operating yesterday, compared to only around 700 on Friday.”
“We were also able to make the cancellations earlier so that customers do not show up at the airport if their flights are canceled. This gives us all the confidence to come back.”
Large-scale disruption
The center sent Elbers a citation notice following the widespread disruption to flights. He was asked to respond within 24 hours as to why appropriate enforcement action should not be taken against him for breaching the rules.
Additionally, IndiGo said its board has already set up a crisis management group (CMG) comprising chairman Vikram Singh Mehta, board members Gregg Saretsky, Mike Whitaker, and Amitabh Kant and Elbers, among others.
“This group meets regularly to monitor the situation and is constantly updated by management on the measures being taken to restore normal operations,” an IndiGo spokesperson said.
For its part, the center stated that air traffic is rapidly stabilizing across the country.
Apart from this, the ministry said, all other domestic airlines are operating smoothly and operating at full capacity, while IndiGo’s performance has steadily improved and flight schedules have returned to normal levels.
IndiGo’s flight operations increased from 706 on December 5 to 1,565 on December 6 and is expected to reach up to 1,650 by the end of Sunday.
Financial protection
To ensure financial protection of passengers, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has issued strict guidelines to IndiGo requiring all refunds for canceled or severely delayed flights to be completed by 8pm on Sunday.
Accordingly, IndiGo has processed refunds totaling Rs 610 crore so far.
No additional fees are permitted for rebooking trips affected by cancellations.
The ministry has also directed IndiGo to trace and deliver all baggage separated from passengers due to disruption within 48 hours.
IndiGo has also delivered 3,000 bags to passengers across India till Saturday.
Meanwhile, passengers continue to suffer at airports across the country. At Hyderabad airport, IndiGo canceled 61 departures and 54 arrivals.
Additionally, IndiGo canceled 151 flights from Bengaluru on Sunday (Arrival – 76, Departure – 75). This follows 165 cancellations on Saturday (arrival – 86, departure – 79).
After two days of excitement due to the IndiGo flight cancellations, there was calm at Chennai airport.
However, a total of 49 arrivals and 42 departures had been canceled till 8.30 pm on Sunday, sources at Chennai airport said.
Additionally, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has written up several airlines for alleged violations of MoCA’s order capping maximum fares for all domestic airlines depending on leg length.
According to DGCA, the regulator detected violations based on fare lists displayed on airlines’ websites.
Notably, Air India and SpiceJet have been asked to provide adequate justification for non-compliance by 12 noon on December 8.
Published on December 7, 2025