A sudden pilot shortfall, stemming from IndiGo’s difficulty in adhering to the new government rest and duty rules introduced early last year, triggered widespread flight disruptions
IndiGo airlines has processed refunds amounting to Rs 610 crore ahead of the Civil Aviation Ministry’s 8 pm deadline on Sunday.
“To ensure financial protection for passengers, the Ministry issued strict directives to IndiGo requiring that all refunds for cancelled or severely delayed flights be completed by 8:00 PM today. IndiGo has so far processed refunds totalling Rs 610 crore,” a statement from the Civil Aviation Ministry read.
The refunds follow a severe operational crisis at the airline, where widespread cancellations and delays stranded thousands across the country. The disruption was triggered by a sudden pilot shortfall after IndiGo struggled to comply with new government-mandated rest and duty norms introduced early last year.
In light of this, a parliamentary panel in India is preparing to summon senior executives from private airlines and top officials from the country’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture, led by JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha, intends to call representatives from the airlines, the DGCA, and the Civil Aviation Ministry for questioning. The goal is to obtain an explanation for the “unprecedented disruption” that left thousands of passengers stranded and to mandate preventative measures against future chaos.
According to a panel member cited by PTI on Sunday, the committee has taken “serious note” of the widespread issues, which included cancellations and delays persisting for a sixth consecutive day. The crisis even affected Members of Parliament travelling for the Winter Session.
Lawmakers are reportedly concerned not only about the service collapse but also the
“surging airfares” that resulted from the crisis.
Photo: Stranded passengers search for their luggage near a counter at the Bangalore International Airport.
When is IndiGo expected to resume normal operations?
IndiGo has issued a public apology for the “serious operational crisis” it faced, admitting its failure to adequately adapt to new flight duty regulations. The airline specifically attributed the massive wave of cancellations and delays to internal “misjudgement and planning gaps.”
In a video statement delivered on Friday, the airlines’ CEO Pieter Elbers said that restoring full operational normalcy would require time, given the complexity and scale of the carrier’s network. He projected that flight operations would return to a completely normal situation sometime between December 10 and 15.
#WATCH | Gurugram, Haryana | On the IndiGo flight disruptions, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers says, “… In my earlier messages, I conveyed that we would be rebooting the system on Friday, take a significant number of cancellations and start afresh on Saturday. That has worked well by… pic.twitter.com/JKoyfGnwCK
— ANI (@ANI) December 7, 2025
To manage the fallout, Elbers announced the implementation of a three-pronged action plan. This strategy includes enhanced customer support to improve communication regarding cancellations and refunds, alongside strict adherence to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) regulations aimed at resolving the crisis.
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