100 IndiGo Flights Cancelled on Thursday, Announces Compensation to “Severely Impacted” Passengers
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 11: As India’s largest private carrier Indigo is slowly recovering from its worst flight operation crisis ever, with fewer flights getting cancelled than what was seen a few days ago, the company on Thursday announced “compensation” to the passengers “severely impacted” during the chaos at the airports across the country December 3 to 5 due to series of flight cancellations caused by shortage of pilots.
On Thursday, IndiGo had to cancel about 100 flights, an improvement from the cancellation of over 1,600 flights on December 5, the worst day in its operational history.
The company announced such passengers would receive vouchers for Rs 10,000 valid for one year in compensation. IndiGo, however, has not specified what “severely impacted” means and how it would identify the customers for the compensation pay-out.
The airline, which is facing fire and action over the cancellation of hundreds of flights for several days, said in a release that it has already ensured necessary refunds for cancelled flights. “IndiGo regrettably acknowledges that part of our customers travelling on 3/4/5 December 2025 were stranded for many hours at certain airports and number of them were severely impacted due to congestion. We will offer travel vouchers worth INR 10,000 to such severely impacted customers,” the airline said in a statement. “These travel vouchers can be used for any future IndiGo journey for the next 12 months,” it added.
The compensation would be in addition to the amount that needs to be provided to passengers for flight cancellations under Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) norms. “This compensation is in addition to the commitment under the existing government guidelines, as per which, IndiGo will provide compensation of ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 depending on the block time of the flight, to those customers whose flights were cancelled within 24 hours of departure time,” the statement said.
“At IndiGo, we are committed to restoring the experience you expect from us-safe, smooth, and reliable. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to serve you again,” the statement said. The airline said in a separate statement that its services to all destinations have been restored for four days now and that there have been no same-day cancellations for the past three days except those due to weather, technical and other uncontrollable factors.
“IndiGo continues to strengthen its operations, improving its services day by day to now operating 1,900+ flights that seamlessly connect all 138 destinations across our network. Our commitment to operational excellence has led to significant efficiency gains, and our On-time Performance has been restored to top-tier industry standards,” it said. “As the IndiGo team works hand-in-hand with authorities to further normalize our operations, we remain focused on safety, efficiency, and support to every customer,” the statement said.
The country’s largest airline is also facing regulatory heat, and authorities have directed it to reduce winter schedule flights by 10% to stabilise its operations. The carrier was operating around 2,300 flights a day till the disruptions began on December 2.
Indigo chairman Vikram Singh Mehta on Wednesday addressed claims surrounding flight disruptions over the past week. Singh said some allegations, including ones suggesting that “Indigo engineered the crisis” and “tried to influence government rules” were false. The aviation watchdog DGCA has asked IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers to appear before it again on Friday amid flight disruptions.
The mass flight cancellations that began on December 2 and hit IndiGo the most out of all airlines operating in India was attributed to the carrier not implementing on time government norms that were meant to allow more rest time to pilots and crew. The DGCA had introduced revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) rules in phases, with full enforcement due by November 1, 2025, to combat pilot fatigue and align with global safety norms.
The revised limits were notified in January 2024, enforced from May 31, and initially required for compliance by June 1, 2024. Their implementation was later deferred to a phased rollout from July 1, 2025 to November 1 this year.
Under these rules, weekly rest for pilots increased from 36 to 48 hours; weekly night landings were reduced from six to two; maximum flight time for duties stretching into the night was capped at 10 hours; night operations were more strictly defined (00.00-06.00 instead of 00.00-05.00); and no pilot could undertake more than two consecutive night duties. Collectively, the rules sharply cut the number of weekly flights a pilot could operate.
IndiGo did not flag any trouble with adapting to the revised crew fatigue rules during a meeting with the civil aviation regulator on December 1, a day before operational problems at India’s biggest airline became apparent, civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said. The crisis, which has affected at least 4,600 flights and millions of passengers since December 2, was caused by IndiGo’s crew rostering system and internal planning, he said. IndiGo on Monday claimed a “compounding effect of multiple factors” was responsible for the chaos.
DGCA officials on Thursday began monitoring IndiGo’s operations, the sources said, adding that officials were expected to submit daily reports on the situation at the airline, which has been recovering from massive operational disruptions. On Wednesday, the DGCA decided to deploy two members from an oversight panel at IndiGo’s Gurgaon headquarters to monitor cancellation status, crew deployment, unplanned leave, and routes hit by staff shortages.
The regulator also summoned IndiGo chief executive (CEO) Pieter Elbers to appear at its office at 3 pm on Thursday and sought a complete report.
Two officers from the DGCA office – a senior statistics officer and a deputy director – will be deployed at the IndiGo corporate office to monitor the status of domestic and international cancellations, refund status, on-time performance, compensation to the passengers as per the civil aviation requirement and baggage return, as per a DGCA order issued on Wednesday.
