 "Nearly 54% IndiGo flyers complain about timeliness, staff behaviour: Survey")
IndiGo, India's largest airline by market share, has been marred by fluctuations in its on-time performance (OTP), with only 69.69 per cent of IndiGo’s flights reported to have arrived on time at their destination, a LocalCircles survey revealed.
A survey of IndiGo flyers, conducted against the backdrop of social media complaints about service standards, highlights punctuality and staff behaviour as the biggest pain points for passengers.
In response to the question “What are some of the issues you have experienced when flying IndiGo in the last 12 months”, 15,938 flyers shared feedback, with many flagging more than one concern. Timeliness emerged as a key issue, cited by 54 per cent of respondents. Another 54 per cent pointed to staff attitude and courteousness. Nearly 45 per cent said they faced problems with information timeliness and transparency, while 42 per cent flagged baggage handling. Customer service was cited by 32 per cent, followed by quality and maintenance of aircraft (27 per cent), food quality (23 per cent) and entertainment systems (14 per cent). A further 19 per cent reported other issues not listed in the survey.
Further, the survey revealed that the passenger complaints increased this year as compared to 2024, in several areas, including timeliness, baggage handling, and staff attitude, among others. The share of respondents citing timeliness as an issue jumped to 54 per cent from 33 per cent a year earlier. Complaints related to baggage handling rose to 42 per cent from 27 per cent, while concerns over staff attitude and courteousness increased to 54 per cent from 46 per cent. Issues flagged under customer service climbed to 32 per cent from 23 per cent.
It also indicated a deterioration in perceptions around aircraft quality and maintenance, with complaints rising to 27 per cent from 19 per cent. Similarly, concerns about information timeliness and transparency surged to 45 per cent from 27 per cent over the last 12 months.
The findings come at a time when the airline is facing severe crew shortage, which has resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights in the last few weeks. The shortage was reported after the new pilot/crew rostering rules under the revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) that came into effect from November 1.
On December 3 alone, over 200 flight cancellations were reported. Additionally, the airline has also been facing criticism for its tardy services, flight delays and rude behaviour with fliers, who are expected to wait patiently as the airline announces periodic delays.
IndiGo Q2 earnings
In the second quarter of FY26, the airline reported a loss of ₹2,582 crore as compared with a profit of ₹2,176 crore in the previous quarter. The airline said the quarterly loss was largely driven by currency movements, which resulted in a sharp foreign exchange loss of ₹2,892 crore, compared with ₹241 crore in the same period last financial year. Excluding the forex impact, the airline would have posted a net profit of ₹104 crore, according to its regulatory filing.