IndiGo Flight Crisis Highlights: Over 650 Flights Cancelled On Sunday; Operations Slowly Stabilising

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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation granted an extension of 24 hours more time till 6 pm on Monday to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Accountable Manager Isidro Porqueras to submit their responses to the show-cause notices over the flight disruptions.

IndiGo COO urges the DGCA for an extension of time till at least 6 p.m. on Monday or "such other extended period" to reply to the regulator's show-cause notice.

At the Delhi airport, at least 118 flights were cancelled on Sunday, while the number was 121 at Mumbai airport, PTI quoted officials as saying.

The board of IndiGo's parent InterGlobe Aviation has set up a Crisis Management Group, which is meeting regularly to monitor the situation, the airline said.

For the fog season, a senior IndiGo official told PTI that the airline is prepared and there are adequate number of aircraft and pilots. "We are confident of managing the fog season."

Asked why other airlines are not facing similar issues, a senior IndiGo official told PTI that for whatever reason, they had a better buffer than IndiGo in terms of the number of pilots.

"We did not have the same kind of buffer. But that does not mean that there is a question of inadequacy. No. These are two different things," the official said.

IndiGo will carry out a "root-cause analysis" into the flight disruptions that happened due to a combination of factors, and the focus now is to stabilise operations, a senior airline official told PTI.

Rajasthan's peak tourism season has taken a hit as the ongoing IndiGo flight crisis disrupted travel schedules, slowed visitor inflow, and affected hotels and travel operators across key destinations, according to a PTI report.

IndiGo has successfully delivered 3,000 pieces of baggage to passengers across India as of Saturday, says the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

IndiGo has so far processed refunds totalling Rs 610 crore, says the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers says the airline is getting back "step by step".

Elbers, in an internal video message to the staff, says the airline's on-time performance is expected to be 75% on Sunday.

"We have been able to execute the cancellations at an earlier stage so that the customers do not show up at the airport in case their flights are cancelled," the CEO said.

(With PTI inputs)

The airline saw its on-time performance from six metro airports on Saturday improving to 20.7%, as per the Civil Aviation Ministry website.

IndiGo says it is expecting to stabilise the network by December 10 against the earlier anticipated timeline of December 10-15.

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram demanded that airfare caps in economy class must remain in force till a duopoly in the airline sector exists.

"I am glad that the Ministry of Civil Aviation has woken up at last and capped the Economy Class fares," the Congress leader posted on X. "Absent robust competition, the only way to protect public interest is price containment. The overwhelming majority of the passengers must be protected."

IndiGo is operating 1,650 flights of its 2,300 daily domestic and international flights on Sunday, and 650 remain cancelled for the day, amid the airline's operations gradually stabilising after massive disruptions in the last five days, PTI quoted the airline as saying.

On IndiGo flight cancellations, MoS Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol says, "Pilots' Association had demanded that the duty hours should be reduced from 10 hours to 8 hours and for this, reforms be made to FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations).

IndiGo’s recovery efforts are gaining momentum. The airline is on track to operate over 1,650 flights today, after successfully operating nearly 1,500 flights yesterday.

Train No. 04004 New Delhi–Mumbai Central Superfast Special will leave New Delhi on Sunday, December 7, 2025, at 10:40 pm and reach Mumbai Central at 9:00 pm the following day, Mid-day reported.

Train No. 04003 Mumbai Central–New Delhi Superfast Special will depart from Mumbai Central on Monday, December 8, 2025, at 11:30 pm, arriving in New Delhi the next day at 8:50 pm, the reprot further added.

Over 300 flights were cancelled on Sunday as IndiGo grappled with operational disruptions for the sixth consecutive day, Hindustan Times reported.

Airline said IndiGo's Board of Directors received a detailed briefing on the delays and cancellations on the first day of the crisis, followed by the formation of a Crisis Management Group comprising chairman Vikram Mehta, CEO Pieter Elbers, and other board directors.

In a statement on Sunday, IndiGo said, "The Board of Directors of Interglobe Aviation Limited (IndiGo) met on the first day the problem of cancellations and delayed flights arose. The members received a detailed briefing from the Management on the nature and extent of the crisis. This meeting was followed up with a session confined to only Board members at which, it was decided to set up a Crisis Management Group (CMG) comprising amongst others the Chairman, Vikram Singh Mehta; Board Directors, Gregg Saretsky, Mike Whitaker and Amitabh Kant, and the CEO Pieter Elbers."

It further added, "This Group has been meeting regularly to monitor the situation and is being constantly updated by the Management of the measures being undertaken to restore normal operations. In addition, there have been multiple telephonic discussions, including with Directors who are not members of the CMG."

At Pune Airport around 26 IndiGo flights, 13 arrivals and 13 departures, have been cancelled. According to an official statement from IndiGo, 95% of operations are back on track, and the airline is targeting to operate 1,500 flights across various destinations by the end of the day. Additionally, IndiGo has resumed services at 135 out of its 138 destinations, signaling a steady recovery.

IndiGo’s flight operations from Patna to Delhi are gradually returning to normal. Today, flights to Delhi, Bhubaneswar, and Hyderabad are operating as scheduled.

However, cancellations persist for routes to Pune, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Mumbai. Meanwhile, SpiceJet has also cancelled flights to Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Delhi, adding to the travel disruptions.

The civil aviation ministry has directed IndiGo to complete all ticket refunds for cancelled flights by 8 p.m. on Sunday, following several days of severe disruptions that affected thousands of passengers.

Indigo has cancelled another flight, Purnea Airport in a post on X wrote, "Passengers are informed that flight 6E-5935/5936(HYD-PURNEA-HYD) has been cancelled by Indigo for today(7.12.2025). Rest all indigo flights are operating as of now for today."

As of December 7, Thiruvananthapuram International Airport had 13 scheduled domestic arrivals and 13 departures, along with 2 international arrivals and 2 departures for IndiGo.

However, cancellations continue to impact operations, with 5 domestic arrivals and 6 departures called off so far. Only 1 arrival and 3 departures have been operated till now, indicating a slow recovery in flight schedules.

IndiGo operations show mixed progress this morning. As of 8:30 AM, several flights are running on schedule, including 6E845 (Chennai), 6E579 (Delhi), 6E7129 (Vijayawada), 6E1444 (Abu Dhabi), 6E7381 (Bhubaneswar), 6E779 (Hyderabad), 6E7063 (Tirupati), 6E7296 (Raipur), 6E783 (Hyderabad), 6E216 (Hyderabad), and 6E6680 (Delhi).

However, cancellations continue to affect passengers, with flights such as 6E307 (Hyderabad), 6E218 (Bengaluru), 6E6585 (Mumbai), 6E881 (Chennai), 6E6645 (Hyderabad), 6E6089 (Chennai), 6E2772 (Bengaluru), 6E617 (Kolkata), 6E883 (Hyderabad), and 6E6286 (Hyderabad) called off. Travelers are advised to check their flight status before heading to the airport.

Among IndiGo's 10 Jammu flights, 8 operated while 2 were cancelled — one from Delhi and another from Indore.

Normalcy is gradually being restored at airports across the country and all necessary facilities are provided to passengers. NDTV reported that flight operations for IndiGo have improved on Sunday with Delhi’s IGI Airport showing no major crowding and international flights are running on time.