Almost a week after the nationwide flight disruption, the Civil Aviation Ministry announced on Sunday that IndiGo had been working hard to re-establish its services and had already issued refunds to the customers in the tune of Rs 610 crore and had delivered 3000 bags to the customers.
Rs 610 crore refunds from Indigo
The airline that usually serves approximately 2,300 flights per day performed more than 1,500 flights on Saturday, and is scheduled to perform approximately 1,650 flights on Sunday, reconnecting to 135 of its 138 destinations.
CEO Pieter Elbers confirmed On Time Performance has achieved 75 per cent in the airline and emphasized that previous cancellations have ensured that passengers are not arriving at the airports unnecessarily. IndiGo estimates that it will take December 10 to complete the stabilisation process of the network.
The salvaging is in the face of increased political attack and regulation. Congress senior leader P Chidambaram termed the crisis as a colossal failure of both the IndiGo management and the Civil Aviation Ministry and the DGCA has also given show-cause notices to CEO Pieter Elbers and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras scolded by operational laxity.
The inconveniences whereby the special trains had to be used to ferry the stranded passengers have strained India biggest airline, as it tries to build its confidence and maintain smooth sailing during the recovery period.
Other domestic airlines are working well and with capacity whereas IndiGo has been performing steadily today with flight schedules slowly returning to normal.
The flight operations that the airline had were 706 on December 5 and 1,565 on December 6, and they are likely to be increased to a maximum of 1,650 by the end of this day.
How Much Money Did Indigo Lose?
InterGlobe Aviation, which runs IndiGo, just took a huge financial hit. Over two trading days (December 4–5), the company’s market value dropped by more than Rs 16,000 crore. Why? IndiGo faced a level of chaos it had never seen before, cancelling over 1,000 flights in a single day—a first in its history, according to CNBCTV18.
IndiGo’s stock took a beating too. On Friday, shares closed 2.7% lower at Rs 5,297.5, after dipping as much as 3.4% earlier. This came right after a 3.4% drop on Thursday, making the week’s total loss nearly 6%.
What went wrong?
IndiGo tried to roll out a “major reboot,” but it backfired. The airline ran into a major cockpit crew shortage after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) brought in stricter Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) from November 1, 2025.
Here’s what changed in the rules:
– Weekly rest for crew jumped from 36 to 48 hours.
– Crews can now only do 2 night landings a week (it used to be 6).
– The night duty window now runs from midnight to 6 AM.
IndiGo admitted it messed up, misjudged the crew numbers and left serious gaps in planning. To make things worse, there were tech glitches, winter fog, crowded skies, and new roster rules that left little room to maneuver.
The numbers looked ugly. On-time performance, which was 84% in October and 67% in November, crashed to just 19.7% on Thursday. Overall, domestic air passenger numbers across all airlines fell from 5.36 lakh on November 30 to 4.74 lakh by December 3.
IndiGo’s CEO, Pieter Elbers, sent out a video message on Thursday, telling staff and passengers that December 5 was a “major reboot” day.
IndiGo was trying to get its planes and people back in sync. But he didn’t sugarcoat it. He warned there would be “hundreds more cancellations” on Friday (December 6). He promised a slow return to normal between December 10 and 15, but said the full schedule wouldn’t be back until February 10, 2026.
When the DGCA stepped in
Meanwhile, the DGCA finally stepped in. Late Thursday, they scrapped a controversial rule that had kept airlines from counting sick or privilege leave as part of the new 48-hour weekly rest.
That gave IndiGo and other airlines some breathing room. The DGCA also temporarily relaxed the cap on night landings until February 10, 2026.
Passengers were furious. Images of packed, chaotic airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad flooded social media. People were stuck for hours.
The Civil Aviation Ministry hauled in IndiGo’s top brass and made it clear they were “extremely dissatisfied.” The government told IndiGo to fix things fast and not to hike fares during the crisis.
To make up for the mess, IndiGo is offering full refunds, free rescheduling, and meal or hotel vouchers to passengers with bookings from December 5–15.
Right now, IndiGo holds about 60–65% of India’s aviation market and has a reputation for punctuality.
With this crisis, though, everyone’s watching will IndiGo pull off the promised recovery between December 10 and 15, or will the fallout drag on into 2026, hurting both its image and its profits?
