IndiGo to offer ₹10,000 travel vouchers to impacted December 3-5 flyers

The airline said these vouchers - which can be used to book any IndiGo flights during the next 12 months

India’s largest airline, IndiGo, hit by major operational disruption last week, on Thursday said it would offer travel vouchers worth ₹10,000 to passengers who were stranded for several hours at some airports between December 3 and December 5. 

The airline said the vouchers, which could be used to book any IndiGo flight in the next 12 months, would be in addition to the compensation it was required to pay under Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) rules. Under these rules, IndiGo must pay ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 to passengers whose flights were cancelled less than 24 hours before the scheduled departure, with the amount varying by the duration of the flight. 

 

Between December 1 and December 9, IndiGo cancelled over 4,200 flights as it struggled to manage its pilot duty roster under new, stricter rest and duty regulations fully implemented by the DGCA on November 1. The rules increase weekly rest requirements and reduce the hours pilots can fly at night. 

The airline said it had “stabilised” its flight schedule since Tuesday, reporting no same-day cancellations in the past three days other than “negligible” ones due to weather, technical issues or other external factors beyond its control. It added it had operated over 1,800 flights on Tuesday and 1,900 on Wednesday, and expected to operate more than 1,950 flights on Thursday. IndiGo also said its on-time performance had been restored to “top-tier industry standards”.

 

“IndiGo regrettably acknowledges that part of our customers travelling on December 3, 4 and 5 were stranded for many hours at certain airports and a number of them were severely impacted due to congestion. We will offer travel vouchers worth ₹10,000 to such severely impacted customers. These travel vouchers can be used for any future IndiGo journey for the next 12 months,” the airline said.

 

“This compensation is in addition to the commitment under the existing government guidelines under which IndiGo will provide compensation of ₹5000 to ₹10,000, depending on the block time of the flight, to those customers whose flights were cancelled within 24 hours of departure time.”

 

Before the disruption began, the airline operated a total of 2,300 flights per day — about 2,000 domestic and 300 international. On Tuesday, the DGCA asked it to reduce its flight schedule till March by 10 per cent.

 

The DGCA, which had summoned IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers on Thursday, asked him to appear before it again on Friday. Last week, the regulator had formed a four-member panel — comprising Joint Director General Sanjay Brahamane, Deputy Director General Amit Gupta, Senior Flight Operations Inspector (FOI) Kapil Manglik and FOI Lokesh Rampal — to identify the root causes of widespread operational disruptions at the Rahul Bhatia-controlled domestic carrier.

 

Enhancing oversight, the DGCA on Thursday began monitoring IndiGo’s operations, refunds and other processes from the airline’s headquarters, sources said. The officials were expected to submit daily reports on the situation at the airline, they added.

 

A senior IndiGo executive told Business Standard that passengers on flights cancelled due to the reduced schedule till March had either been refunded or accommodated on other IndiGo flights. The executive added that the truncated schedule had been shared with all airports in India and would start reflecting on terminal display boards shortly.