'We are sorry': IndiGo apologises to customers as chaos continues on fourth day — full statement

Amid the massive delays and cancellations that added to the mounting travel chaos, which is now on its fourth day, IndiGo issued an apology for the disruptions, stating that the airline will offer full waiver on all cancellations and reschedule requests of bookings.

"We do deeply apologize and understand how difficult the past few days have been for many of you. While this will not get resolved overnight, we assure you that we will do everything in our capacity to help you in the meantime and to bring our operations back to normal at the earliest," the budget carrier said in its statement.

IndiGo's promises

The airline further stated that it will ensure the following for its flyers:

• Refunds for the cancellations to be processed automatically to the original mode of payment
• Full waiver on all cancellations or reschedule requests for travel bookings between 5 December to 15 December
• IndiGo also said that it has arranged hotel rooms and transport for its customers.

On Friday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said that real-time updates from all airports are being monitored to ensure adequate response and deployment of resources, particularly for facilitating passengers stranded at various terminals.

What IndiGo CEO said

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers also issued an apology amid the slew of flight cancellations, stating that the situation is expected to return to normal between December 10 and 15.

In a video clip posted on social media, CEO Elbers extended his apologies for the massive disruptions, and also said that cancellations are estimated to be less than 1000 tomorrow, Saturday.

IndiGo chaos - What has happened so far

• December 2: Passengers complained about delays in IndiGo flights at Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai airports, which sources at the airline said was due to operational reasons, and low visibility due to weather conditions.
• December 3: IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Air India flights were delayed following a technical outage that impacted check-in systems at several airports. Sources told Hindustan Times that IndiGo cancelled 42 flights from Bengaluru and 32 from Mumbai on that day.
• December 4: Cancellations, delays across Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai Airports continued. Two IndiGo flights bound for Hyderabad also received bomb threats, news wire reports mentioned, citing police officials.
• December 5- Airline crisis reaches Parliament: Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari on Friday raised the issue of operational disruptions and flight cancellations by IndiGo in the Upper House, attributing them to a "monopoly" in the aviation sector.
• The government ordered a high-level inquiry into the disruptions, with the DGCA setting up a four-member committee for the inquiry. Earlier in the day, DGCA also withdrew its new weekly rest policy for pilots.
• Shares drop: Shares of InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of IndiGo, dropped over 7% in the past four days ever since a crisis engulfed the airline. On Friday, the stock declined 1.22% to settle at ₹5,371.30 apiece. During the day, it had dropped 3.15% to ₹5,266.