NEW DELHI: Air travel chaos due to IndiGo’s operational disruptions continued on Sunday, though the situation appeared to improve with the country’s largest airline set to operate 1,650 flights until midnight – up from 1,565 on Saturday and 706 on Friday.
This still resulted in 650 flights across the country being cancelled with hundreds of them delayed by hours.
In a statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said air travel operations across the country were stabilising.
“All other domestic airlines are operating smoothly and at full capacity, while IndiGo’s performance has shown steady improvement today, with flight schedules moving back towards normal levels. IndiGo’s flight operations are likely to reach up to 1,650 by the end of today (Sunday),” its statement read.
To ensure financial protection for passengers, the ministry directed IndiGo to complete refunds for cancelled or severely delayed flights by 8:00 PM on Sunday.
The ministry also asked IndiGo to ensure that no additional fees are levied for rescheduling travel impacted by cancellations.
On how much more refund was pending, an Indigo source said the process of calculating the amount to be refunded was still on.
The ministry also said IndiGo successfully delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage to passengers as of December 6. It had mandated a 48-hour deadline for delivery of luggage separated from flyers due to the flight delay and cancellation chaos.
In an update on the situation, Indigo said its on-time performance shot up to 75% on Sunday from 30% on Saturday.
The airline also said it will “root cause analysis” into flight disruptions.
Meanwhile, the DGCA extended the deadline for IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers to respond to the show cause notice to Monday 6 pm.
IndiGo sources said the airline would soon respond to the show cause notice.
“We are readying our response by explaining the reasons that flights were cancelled and delayed and the steps we are taking to mitigate them,” a source said.
Refunds being processed
IndiGo has processed refunds of Rs 610 crore so far against cancelled or delayed flights, and delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage to passengers as of Saturday, the civil aviation ministry said