New Delhi, Dec. 9 — The civil aviation ministry on Monday said IndiGo had returned roughly half the checked-in baggage stranded during last week’s operational meltdown and committed to delivering the remainder within 36 hours, as the airline continued to cancel flights in large numbers.
“4,500 bags were delivered to customers out of the total 9,000 bags,” the ministry said, adding that the rest would be cleared soon. The update came as the airline cancelled 500 flights but planned to operate 1,802 services to 137 domestic destinations.
The ministry also detailed the scale of passenger refunds. From December 1 to 7, the carrier cancelled and refunded 5,86,705 PNRs valued at ₹569.65 crore. For November 21 to December 7, cancellations and refunds totalled 9,55,591 PNRs amounting to ₹827 crore — pushing combined refunds for the period to more than ₹1,396 crore.
IndiGo’s cancellations since December 2 have drawn anger from travellers and questions from the government, with many passengers stranded at airports across India. The airline has blamed the situation on regulatory changes to pilot flight-duty-time norms.
The DGCA has served show-cause notices to IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers and Chief Operating Officer Isidro Porqueras over the collapse in operations. They were asked to respond by 6 p.m. Monday as the regulator reviews accountability for the disruptions.
